Publications

Executive Summary - COVID-19: The Great Lockdown and its Impact on Small Business - SME Competitiveness Outlook 2020

This SME Competitiveness Outlook assesses the impact of conflict and fragility on business performance. It unveils a Fragility Exposure Index, and shows that fragility, as experienced by firms, can be reduced by 25% if they take actions to reinforce competitiveness. These include engaging with...

The report combines analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on firms based on a large-scale global survey, with case studies and a thought leader viewpoint. The projected drop in supply chain trade is evaluated by region, and in 85 country profiles.

International business investors can embed sustainability in each step of their operations. This guide describes the social, environmental and economic practices that international firms must understand when entering a new market.

Four services sectors are key to an economic transformation. This report calls them 'connected services.' Transport and logistics, financial services, information and communication technologies, and business and professional services contribute directly to economic growth – with an increasing...

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Kenya are an underexploited resource with significant potential to boost inclusive growth.

Thanks to a more services-based economy and the prestige associated with women’s entrepreneurship, new opportunities allow Nigerian women to play a more active role in business.

A comparison of sustainability schemes, as well as an overview of the trends in the markets for specialty and sustainable coffees. Coffee niche markets provide opportunities for producers in developing countries to increase their incomes. This paper, drawn from ITC’s new book on the coffee trade,...

Understanding the global demand for environmental goods and services can unlock new export opportunities for developing country SMEs. This study provides a market overview of this complex sector, which reached an estimated US$ 866 billion in 2011, and is expected to rise to US$ 1.9 trillion by 2020...

What keeps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana from being competitive in international markets is often not of their own making, such as unreliable electricity and high interest rates.

Increasing annual investments in small and medium-sized enterprises by $1 trillion would yield disproportionate dividends in terms of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. These investments also have the potential to deliver healthy returns for investors.

The rhinoceros faces the risk of extinction in the wild if current poaching rates continue. Viet Nam, a main market, uses horn as an ingredient in Traditional Asian Medicine (TAM). An ITC survey of 1000 consumers of TAM, including 239 rhino horn users, found they preferred rhino horn that is...