Sustainable development of SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study between developed and developing countries
by Demetris Vrontis; Hani El-Chaarani; Sam El Nemar; Hebatallah Badawy
World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development (WREMSD), Vol. 20, No. 4, 2024

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.

Online publication date: Tue, 02-Jul-2024

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development (WREMSD):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com