Sustainable development of SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study between developed and developing countries

Demetris Vrontis, Hani El-Chaarani, Sam El Nemar, Hebatallah Badawy

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This research compares and analyses the different innovation strategies employed by SMEs in both developing and developed countries to reveal their impact on firm performance and sustainable development during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test and a multivariate regression model were employed on two subsamples extracted from Saudi Arabia and France representing developing and developed countries, respectively. The results show that SMEs in France outperformed SMEs in Saudi Arabia during the pandemic period. French SMEs also have showed higher capacity to implement marketing, process, product, and organisational innovative strategies during the lockdown period. In addition, the results reveal that, during that period, marketing innovation practices have improved sustainability and financial performance of SMEs. Finally, the product innovation strategy was not well valued by customers during the pandemic period, which led to a decrease in the financial performance of SMEs in both developing and developed countries.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)421-450
    Number of pages30
    JournalWorld Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development
    Volume20
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2024

    Keywords

    • COVID-19
    • developed countries
    • developing
    • financial performance
    • innovation strategy
    • performance strategy
    • SMEs
    • sustainable development

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