Contents
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer 2
Foreword by the WTO Director-General 3
Executive summary 5
A Introduction 12
1. SMEs in domestic economies 14
2. SME participation in trade: opportunities and challenges 20
3. Structure of the report 25
B SMEs in international trade: stylized facts 28
1. SME involvement in direct trade 31
2. SME involvement in indirect trade and global value chains 39
3. SME participation in international e-commerce 46
4. MSME trade participation over time 51
5. Conclusions 54
C Dynamics of internationalization processes of SMEs 56
1. Forms of internationalization by SMEs 58
2. Which firms export and why does foreign market access matter for SMEs? 61
3. The impact of internationalization on SME performance 64
4. Conclusions 74
D Trade obstacles to SME participation in trade 76
1. SME perceptions of barriers to access international markets 78
2. Trade policy and SMEs 83
3. Other major trade-related costs 91
4. ICT-enabled trade: benefits and challenges for SMEs 98
5. SME access to GVC-enabled trade 102
6. Conclusions 106
E Cooperative approaches to promoting SME participation in trade 112
1. Why support SMEs and seek to cooperate on them in trade agreements? 114
2. SMEs in regional trade agreements 116
3. SMEs in other international organizations 126
4. SMEs in the WTO 130
5. Conclusions 146
F Conclusions 150
Bibliography 152
Technical notes 164
Abbreviations and symbols 169
List of figures, tables and boxes 171
WTO members 175
Previous World Trade Reports 176