Q."Information is as real a form of institutional support as finance." Explain this statement with reference to business information and advisory services.

Market, regulatory, and procedural information circulated by trade bodies and promotional institutions helps a business just as concretely as a loan would. …

Institutional support is often thought of primarily in financial terms — a loan from a bank, a grant from a development institution — but a large part of what trade associations, chambers of commerce, and promotional bodies such as the District Industries Centre provide is INFORMATION, not money.

Knowing current market prices, changes in government regulation, export-import documentation requirements, or upcoming trade opportunities is difficult for an individual business to track on its own, especially a small or new one. Trade associations and chambers circulate exactly this kind of information to their members as one of their standing functions; promotional bodies provide similar guidance directly to new entrepreneurs. …