Determinants of SMEs business success – emerging market perspective

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role of selected determinants in building business success (comparative analysis between SME sector and large companies).

Design/methodology/approach

Research conducted among companies operating on the Polish market in 2015. 149 companies from the SME sector and 33 companies from the large companies' sector were submitted to the final analysis. PAPI and CAWI methods were used to collect data.

Findings

The performed research was an attempt to assess the ability of small and medium companies to compete in hectic times. The research was limited in scope. They however proved that rejecting the partial hypothesis was not possible, and as a result, it was also impossible to reject the main hypothesis according to which organizations, using market success determinants (MK – market knowledge, MO – marketing orientation, LO – learning organization) to a greater extent achieve better market performance (BS – business success).

Research limitations/implications

It should be noted that the research methodology had its limitations and imperfections. The research was carried out in the PAPI and CAWI market research forms. Standardization of the research method and research process certainly has its advantages. On the other hand, however, it does limit the in-depth observation. Linking the results of the SME sector survey to the large company sector remains inconclusive. Probably, because of the small size of the sample, the analyzed relationships were statistically insignificant. This applied primarily to the relationship between independent variables (MK – market knowledge, MO – marketing orientation, LO – learning organization) and the dependent variable (BS – business success).

Practical implications

Research has shown that the market success of small- and medium-sized companies depends on not only the ability to learn the market faster than competitors but also marketing orientation and market knowledge. It thus can be said that it is the ability to apply the knowledge and not its scale that is crucial for success. This conclusion seems to take on a completely different meaning in the era of new technologies, especially the phenomenon referred to as big data.

Originality/value

The analysis of the nature of market knowledge, marketing orientation and learning organization has shown how closely these concepts are related, how much they complement each other and facilitate the occurrence of synergy effects. There is a gap in the analysis of the relationship between these variables (market knowledge, marketing orientation, learning organization) and business success, especially in terms of the SME sector on the emerging markets. This paper attempt to reduce this gap.

Citation

Kozielski, R. (2019), "Determinants of SMEs business success – emerging market perspective", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 322-336. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-02-2018-1343