Assessing Trade Attractiveness Using International Marketing Environmental Factors and Fuzzy DEMATEL

Abstract

International market entry of entities can be through exporting, licensing, franchising, partnering and strategic alliance, acquisition and Greenfield venture. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs’) initial international market entries are limited to exporting. Hence, assessing the international marketing environment is essential for deciding the pre-export or initial export stages of going international. It also needs favourable policies to support the trade growth of SMEs between countries. Hence, this research study aims to develop a quantitative approach for assessing the international trade attractiveness between regions with physical, political, economic, sociocultural and technological (PPEST) variables and the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique. This research study is novel in its approach for identifying the prominence causal variables of trade attractiveness by applying the Fuzzy DEMATEL technique. The results revealed that ‘focusing on the development of new technologies’ and ‘Physical distribution and communication network’ were the core factors influencing the trade attractiveness between the regions. Furthermore, directions for policy implementation and research expansion in this domain were also presented.