Doing Business

What Doing Business does

Business Ready (B-READY) is a World Bank Group initiative, operating under the DBA "Business Ready (B-READY)" and previously known as "Doing Business," that assesses the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms across approximately 170 economies worldwide. The core product is an annual assessment report, supported by a B-READY Manual and Guide (covering end-to-end production protocols and safeguards) and a B-READY Methodology Handbook (detailing topic-by-topic measurement methodology). The framework evaluates ten fixed domains: Business Entry, Utility Services, Business Location, Labor, Financial Services, International Trade, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Market Competition, and Business Insolvency, and is tightly linked with the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES), which provide complementary firm-level data.

The underlying platform is a web-based global assessment framework and database maintained by the World Bank Group's Policy Indicators Group (under Director Norman Loayza) and Global Indicators Group (under Manager Valeria Perotti). B-READy's distinguishing technical features include a combined regulatory-and-efficiency assessment design and a public reproducibility package that allows external validation of findings, distinguishing it from prior private-sector benchmarking products.

B-READY operates as a public good rather than a commercial business. All reports, data, methodology handbooks, and reproducibility packages are provided free of charge, distributed through the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository and a multilingual portal (Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish). It is funded through World Bank institutional funding rather than customer revenue, with go-to-motion centered on event-driven and community-led dissemination: public report releases, the World Bank's global network and country offices, direct engagement with governments, and a Global Contributors program serving a primary customer base of national and subnational governments, with secondary usage by academic researchers, think tanks, and policy analysts.

Name

Doing Business

Legal name

The World Bank Group

Website

https://doingbusiness.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1944

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Business Ready (B-READY) is a World Bank Group public-good initiative that annually assesses regulatory frameworks and public services directed at firms across approximately 170 economies, serving governments, researchers, and policy analysts with free reports, data, and methodology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Public Good: B-READY is a public good initiative of the World Bank Group, providing free access to assessment data, methodology, and reports. It is funded through World Bank institutional funding rather than revenue generation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

B-READY is a global assessment framework and report that evaluates the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms across approximately 170 economies, measuring the efficiency with which regulatory frameworks and public services are combined in practice. The core deliverable is the annual B-READY report, supported by the B-READY Manual and Guide and the B-READY Methodology Handbook covering ten standardized topic areas. All outputs are provided as a free public good through the World Bank Group's open access platforms.

Product overview

Business Ready (B-READY) is a unified assessment platform and report that evaluates regulatory frameworks and public services across approximately 170 economies worldwide. The core product is the B-READY report, which is supported by the B-READY Manual and Guide (documenting production protocols) and the B-READY Methodology Handbook (detailing measurement methodology by topic). The offering covers ten topic areas: Business Entry, Utility Services, Business Location, Labor, Financial Services, International Trade, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Market Competition, and Business Insolvency. Related to this framework is the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES), which provides complementary firm-level data. The portfolio functions as a single integrated assessment system rather than a modular software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Business Ready (B-READY) 2025 Report An annual assessment report that evaluates the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms, measuring the efficiency with which regulatory frameworks and public services are combined in practice across approximately 170 economies worldwide. Provided as a free public good by the World Bank Group.
• B-READY Manual and Guide Documentation covering the protocols, processes, safeguards, and resources related to the end-to-end production of the B-READY data and reports. Made available free of charge as a public good through the World Bank's open access platforms.
• B-READY Methodology Handbook (Edition 2) Detailed measurement methodology document covering all topics assessed by the B-READY project, including Business Entry, Utility Services, Business Location, Labor, Financial Services, International Trade, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Market Competition, and Business Insolvency. Provided free of charge as a public good.
• B-READY Data and Reproducibility Package Downloadable data and reproducibility package for the B-READY assessment framework, allowing users to access all underlying data and replicate study findings. Available globally at no cost through the World Bank's open access platforms.

Quantifiable outcome

• Coverage of approximately 170 economies worldwide

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerB-READY is closely linked with the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, which provide the world's most comprehensive, comparable, and representative firm-level data with global coverage. The projects complement each other, with B-READY assessing regulatory frameworks while WBES provides firm-level data on business conditions.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• International Finance Corporation (IFC): The IFC, part of the World Bank Group, focuses on private-sector development in emerging markets and publishes related Doing Business–style investment climate diagnostics, making it a closely related peer within the same parent institution.
• OECD: The OECD publishes a wide range of economic and regulatory indicators (e.g., Product Market Regulation, Going for Growth) that overlap with B-READy's benchmarking of business regulatory frameworks, especially across OECD member economies.
• Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU): The EIU publishes proprietary country risk and business environment rankings used extensively by investors and governments, serving as a private-sector analogue to B-READy's public-good benchmarking model.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF): The IMF produces a parallel set of country surveillance products (e.g., Article IV consultations, World Economic Outlook) that benchmark macroeconomic and structural conditions across economies, making it a direct analogue to B-READy's cross-country diagnostic role.
• World Economic Forum (WEF): The WEF's Global Competitiveness Report historically competed directly with Doing Business and now publishes related competitiveness and transition indexes; it remains a near-substitute for B-READY's country-level business environment scoring.
• UNCTAD: UNCTAD produces cross-country indicators on investment, trade, and business environment conditions for developing economies, overlapping with B-READy's coverage of international trade, business entry, and financial services topics.

Emerging players

• Heritage Foundation (Index of Economic Freedom): Heritage's Index of Economic Freedom is one of the longest-running private cross-country indices ranking regulatory and economic openness, directly overlapping with B-READy's regulatory assessment and frequently cited alongside the World Bank's work.
• Fraser Institute (Economic Freedom of the World): Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World report provides an academic, methodology-driven ranking of regulatory and institutional quality across jurisdictions, competing for the same policy-research audience as B-READY.
• Transparency International (Corruption Perceptions Index): Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index is one of the most-cited cross-country governance rankings and overlaps with B-READy's broader regulatory and public-services assessment.
• World Justice Project (Rule of Law Index): The World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index benchmarks governance and dispute resolution across countries, overlapping directly with B-READy's Dispute Resolution and Market Competition topic areas.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/104452843
• Xx.com/wb_research

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Doing Business