Generalizing about Trade Show Effectiveness: A Cross-National Comparison

Abstract

Trade shows are a multibillion-dollar business in the United States and the United Kingdom, but little is known about the determinants of trade show effectiveness. The authors build a model that captures differences in trade show effectiveness across industries, companies, and two countries. They focus on the differences in trade show effectiveness measured in a similar way across similar samples of 221 U.S. and 135 UK firm-show experiences between 1982 and 1993. Although the variables explain different amounts of variance in these two countries and some variables tend to have different relative effects, the similarities outweigh the differences. The authors are able to generalize about the effect of various show selection (go/not go) variables as well as tactical variables (e.g., booth size, personnel) on observed performance. They conclude by discussing the implications of their research for developing benchmarks for trade show performance.