EDITORIAL Material & Energy Recovery and Sustainable Development ECOMONDO 2016 20th International Trade Fair of Material & Energy Recovery and Sustainable Development

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between product innovation and network and their export performance, particularly in trade fair context. Moreover, this paper conducts a comparative study among services/industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and considers the home-country context. Innovation and internationalization are stagnant themes in the recent literature on trade fairs, so they require to be renewed. Design/methodology/approach The empirical study includes a survey with 341 SMEs’ respondents separated into both industrial/producer and service/other. A conceptual model was developed and examined from three different perspectives: Model A encompasses all surveyed SMEs, Model B includes only industrial/producer SMEs and Model C comprises service/other SMEs. Data analysis happened in two steps. The first step included the structural equation model (SEM) and the assessment of hypotheses (from three different perspectives). Thus, it was possible to make a comparative analysis between the models. In the second step, the ordered logit model (OLM) is used to study relationships between control variables and the criteria variable export performance. Findings The SEM’s results confirm a conceptual model about a dynamic trajectory that SMEs, mainly industrial/producer, can take advantage of: innovate to networking and networking to export. The results allowed to verify when comparing services/industrial SMEs that the tangibility which characterizes the innovation of industrial SMEs' products contributed significantly to the performance of business networks and exports. The study also reveals, through the OLM, two catalysts for the success of the SME’s export performance: export experience and continued participation in trade fairs. The OLM results also reveal that the size of the companies is not relevant, so trade fairs are marketing tools accessible to any company, regardless of their size. Finally, the study considered home-country context of the surveyed SMEs, which allowed additional interpretations to be drawn. Research limitations/implications The study does not reflect the individual's personality in his network capacity and the export performance was measured based on the level of satisfaction and not on real sales results. However, the study provides relevant practical implications and can support future studies. Practical implications The study offers important implications for SME. The results reveal that presenting product innovations at trade fairs is a useful tool for SMEs to create networks, which facilitates their export performance, especially for industrial SMEs residing in small economies such as Portugal. This study is also relevant for business associations of industrial SMEs and/or public or semi-public SME promotion agencies. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on trade fairs, suggesting a new innovation, networking, export (INE) framework to reflect on the participation in international trade fairs. So, this research especially combines product INE performance in a particular context – international trade fairs for SME. It also considers the home-country context of the SMEs, which adds depth to the study. Finally, the comparative study also provides insightful implications for industrial SMEs on how to improve the export performance from trade fairs by leveraging innovation and networking.

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تقييم مدى جاهزية العراق لدخول التجارة الإلكترونية

Iraqi Journal of Economic Sciences ◽

10.31272/ijes2021.69.4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (69) ◽

pp. 67-86

Author(s):

ميس اسعد عبد الحسن ◽

أ. د. هناء عبدالغفار

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

International Trade ◽

Electronic Commerce ◽

Information And Communication Technology ◽

Communication Technology ◽

Digital Economy ◽

Development Organization ◽

Free Competition ◽

Self Confidence ◽

Information And Communication

E-business has become in the light of the new global digital economy, knowledge and an important requirement and a necessity for sustainable development, as the revolution in information and communication technology has made a qualitative leap in innovating the most successful methods and methods in promoting products and services, opening the door wide to free competition in a world that is not governed by only the features of self-confidence first and others secondly and seeks Research to assess the Iraqi readiness for electronic commerce through a set of indicators for the seven policies that have been identified internationally by the International Trade and Development Organization to assess the readiness of countries.

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