o:4773 THE EFFECT OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION ON SMES EXPORT PERFORMANCE en Abstarct: The largest trading partner of the Republic of Serbia is the European Union and in the last years a constant trade growth has been recorded. Further implementation of economic reforms and gradual free trade of industrial products with European Union are directed towards achieving better export performance. The industry of export-oriented value-added products must be supported by direct and indirect economic policy measures adequately targeting innovation and product development. In the European framework it has been proven that innovations have a direct influence on the export performance. The empirical investigation in Serbia reveals that product innovation has a significant impact on export performance. The objective of the paper is to explore the relationship between product development and SMEs export performance by using data collected by a questionnaire from a sample of Serbian exporters. Statistical methods that shall be used are Pearson Chi-square test, correlation and regression analysis. Consistently with the predictions of the theoretical findings, the research results suggest a positive effect of product quality on export performance, as SMEs that invest in product quality are more likely to reach satisfactory export results. Key words: product development, innovation, export performance, small and medium enterprises, Republic of Serbia, European Union 2024-06-12T09:50:41.549Z 44 yes 46 Jelena Vapa Tankosić Fakultet za ekonomiju i inženjerski menadžment u Novom Sadu 0000-0001-8062-1154 Bojan Vapa person 2017 application/pdf 449569 https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:4773 no yes 16 70 92000001 2017 INOVAEDUCATION 2017 1 1 154 171 2017