The role of technological advances in shaping the Canadian SMEs involvement in the GVCs.

Hassan Wafai was awarded Research and Professional Development funds to examine the potential of technological advances in developing Canadian small-medium sized enterprises.

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the vulnerability and poor resilience of supply network configurations and global values chains (GVCs) (Fonseca, Azevedo, 2020; Sharma et al. 2020; El Baz & Ruel, 2020). The new measures that were put in place to slow down the spread of COVID-19 have prompted enthusiastic discussions about the role of new technological innovation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally, SMEs have limited resources to develop or adopt new technological advances (Juergensen et al., 2020). Even if they successfully deploy a technological innovation, they often fail to develop fertilized management capabilities (management innovation) to sustain the initial success (Wafai, 2019). There is no evidence to suggest that this situation will change in the post-COVID-19 world. It is unclear if SMEs would have adequate capabilities to rethink their own supply chains and collectively reallocate resources to re-shape their supply chains, creating regional clusters or joining new GVCs. The research aims at exploring the potential role of technological advances in shaping the Canadian SMEs involvement in the GVCs.