We use unique enterprise survey data to explore the export behavior of firms in Tunisia, a small, trade-dependent country with a complex policy environment regarding exporting. Firms may export directly or indirectly through intermediaries, and can also sell to ‘offshore’ firms, which are export manufacturing firms with special legal status. Firm size, a proxy for productivity, is strongly associated with exporting of either type as well as with sales to offshore firms. In contrast to some studies, exporting is not positively associated with firm age (i.e., experience).

This paper examines the association between high-growth firm status and global linkages with special focus on the role of imports. We rely on a rich panel data covering all formal firms in Tunisia between 1999 and 2015. Our results show that firms that import, export, have foreigner ownership, or benefit from offshore regimes are more likely to achieve high-growth status compared to other similar firms in terms of size, age, sector, and region. Among these channels, importing status has a robust positive association with high growth.

The governments of South Africa and Tunisia launched a bilateral research project under the auspices of the ‘South Africa-Tunisia Science and Technology Collaboration’ initiative. The research project is aimed at identifying realistic and sustainable export opportunities between the two countries, with a specific focus on SME (small and medium enterprise) exporters. Following an extensive bidding process, a research consortium comprising the WTO Chairs at the North-West University (South Africa) and the University of Tunis (Tunisia) were awarded the project.

This research project is focused on the following key activities:
 
a) The development of an approach to investigate and identify the most realistic export opportunities for exporters and importers between South Africa and Tunisia;
 
b) The application of a methodology referred to as the TRADE-Decision Support Model (DSM) for the identification of realistic export opportunities;
 
c) A TRADE-DSM needs to be constructed for Tunisia – we already have an existing model for South Africa constructed at the North-West University;
 

This study develops and tests a structural model that incorporates the determinants of SME financial performance in Mauritius. Data were collected from 384 tourism SME owners using a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that managerial capability has a significant positive effect on SME performance and is in turn influenced by managers’ autonomy and competence. The study does find a significant relationship between innovation capability and SME performance.

Une équipe constituée de deux UMR IRD (Développement et sociétés et LEDA) et une institution partenaire tunisienne (l'ESSEC Tunis) ont reçu un arbitrage positif dans le cadre de l'appel à projet flash lancé par l'ANRS en avril dernier pour mobiliser les chercheurs dans la lutte contre le COVID-19. Le projet CORES porte sur la "mesure de la vulnérabilité des entreprises des pays en développement au choc du Covid-19".

This paper examines the dynamics and characteristics of high-growth firms in Tunisia. Further knowledge about the dynamics of these firms can inform the design of business support policies, especially toward small and medium-size firms. The analysis suggests that between 1999 and 2015, about 9 to 10.5 percent of the firms in Tunisia achieved high-growth status per year, on average, depending on the definition used, and these shares have been remarkably stable over time.

TRADE-SA-Tunisia export opportunities project- Report back on 1st workshop.

In this paper, we contribute to the literature by studying the effect of internationalization on the conditional firm growth rate distribution in eight countries from the MENA region. We use four measures of internationalization: exporting status, two-way trade, export intensity and export experience. We use the BEEPS data from the Enterprise Survey of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Bank. The main results show that exporting status and export experience play an important role to improve both employment and sales growth in various quantiles.