TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainable development of SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - a comparative study between developed and developing countries
AU - Vrontis, Demetris
AU - El-Chaarani, Hani
AU - Nemar, Sam El
AU - Badawy, Hebatallah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - COVID-19
KW - developed countries
KW - developing
KW - financial performance
KW - innovation strategy
KW - performance strategy
KW - SMEs
KW - sustainable development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85197626222&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1504/WREMSD.2024.139372
DO - 10.1504/WREMSD.2024.139372
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85197626222
SN - 1746-0573
VL - 20
SP - 421
EP - 450
JO - World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development
JF - World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development
IS - 4
ER -