Publications

This joint ITC-Alibaba publication reviews the context of e-commerce development in China and identifies what is needed for foreign firms to enter the market. China's cross-border e-commerce has been growing rapidly in recent years. This development has brought new and innovative ways to access...

While most SMEs adopt loss prevention and reduction measures, they do not engage in a formal risk management processes, and a vast majority ignores risk treatment. SMEs need support and skills to implement a risk management strategy sequentially, to minimize loss and exposure through...

Literature review of interdependencies between public and private standards. It focuses on how governments could engage with private standards to impact their legitimacy and significance in the market; provides examples of complementarities between public and private standards. Part three of a...

To be part of value chains dominated by large global players, small and medium-sized enterprises need a sound business environment, ready access to finance, and institutional support to reach new markets and to defend their interests.

A regional services industries group can help boost trade in services in the COMESA region, as this joint ITC-COMESA Business Council report shows.Services account for over 50% of GDP for most countries in the region. To grow internationally, services industries can work across borders to counter...

Standards and regulations have a major impact on SME competitiveness.

Deeper regional integration goes hand in hand with strengthening processing industries and the internationalization of SMEs.Trade integration within and among regions of African, Caribbean and Pacific Island groups are measured in this study. Regions with the fastest trade integration over the last...

This study reviews the global market for sustainably wild-collected botanical ingredients from China. China produces many plant-based herbal medicines and ingredients, consumed within China and worldwide. The study promotes recognition and implementation of sustainable wild-collection standards and...

This report is a starting point for public-private dialogue to address e-commerce bottlenecks, especially for small firms in developing countries. Small firms face policy challenges in four processes typical to all e-commerce: establishing online business, international e-payment, international...

The design of governance structure of social and environmental sustainability standards determines how accessible they are to producers in developing countries.The increase in consumer demand for sustainable trade has given rise to a growing array of social and environmental standards. This joint...

This ITC 50th anniversary publication explores new opportunities to connect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries to global markets, provides recommendations for trade assistance and presents a road map for ITC’s future work.

This joint UNESCAP-ITC report advocates for mainstreaming trade facilitation in development strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).It highlights the potential for SME centres to share information on trade procedures, organize consultations on trade facilitation and provide other...