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The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network capability on performance in international trade and has three research objectives.

The first objective of the study relates to providing new insights into the international market development activities through the application of a network perspective. The chapter reviews the international business literature to ascertain the development of thought, the research gaps, and the shortcomings. This review shows that the network perspective is a useful and popular theoretical domain that researchers can use to understand international activities, particularly of small, high technology, resource-constrained firms.

The second research objective is to gain a deeper understanding of network capability. This chapter presents a model for the impact of network capability on international performance by building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm. The model conceptualizes network capability in terms of network characteristics, network operation, and network resources. Network characteristics comprise strong and weak ties (operationalized as foreign-market entry modes), relational capability, and the level of trust between partners. Network operation focuses on network initiation, network coordination, and network learning capabilities. Network resources comprise network human-capital resources, synergy-sensitive resources (resource combinations within the network), and information sharing within the network.

The third research objective is to determine the impact of networking capability on the international performance of SMEs. The study analyzes 11 hypotheses through structural equations modeling using LISREL. The hypotheses relate to strong and weak ties, the relative strength of strong ties over weak ties, and each of the eight remaining constructs of networking capability in the study. The research conducts a cross-sectional study by using a sample of SMEs drawn from the telecommunications industry in Ireland.

The study supports the hypothesis that strong ties are more influential on international performance than weak ties. Similarly, network coordination and human-capital resources have a positive and significant association with international performance. Strong ties, weak ties, trust, network initiation, synergy-sensitive resources, relational capability, network learning, and information sharing do not have a significant association with international performance. The results of this study are strong (R2=0.63 for performance as the outcome) and provide a number of interesting insights into the relations between collaboration or networking capability and performance.

This study provides managers and policy makers with an improved understanding of the contingent effects of networks to highlight situations where networks might have limited, zero, or even negative effects on business outcomes. The study cautions against the tendency to interpret networks as universally beneficial to business development and performance outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the important role of intangible resources under resource based view (RBV) such as dominant logic (information filter and learning/routines) and dynamic managerial capabilities (managerial human capital, HC; social capital, SC and managerial cognition, MC) in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) innovation performance in Hefei, Anhui province China.

An empirical study was conducted while distributing 498 questionnaires among different SMEs in Hefei, of which around 429 responses were received. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

This research study is an endeavor to fill the missing link in the existing literature, and empirical analysis of this research supports all the hypotheses confirming that dominant logic and dynamic managerial capabilities are valuable intangible resources and positively and significantly influence the SMEs innovation performance. Results also indicate that managerial human capital, social capital and managerial cognition (dynamic managerial capabilities) play a significant mediating role between dominant logic and SMEs innovation performance.

The findings suggest that those SMEs which are lacking tangible resources should build and nurture their top management capabilities and dominant logic and SMEs effectively utilizing these intangible resources can enhance their innovation performance.

The findings suggest that SMEs lacking tangible resources should build and nurture their top management capabilities and dominant logic and SMEs effectively utilizing these intangible resources can enhance their innovation performance.

This paper argues theoretically (under RBV and dynamic capabilities view-DCV) and demonstrates empirically that in an emerging economy, i.e. China characterized by highly volatile, dynamic and uncertain competitive environments, SMEs lack tangible resources; therefore, intangible resources (e.g. dominant logic-DL and dynamic managerial capabilities-DMC) are vital for SMEs innovation performance and competitive advantage.

This study aims to analyze how international entrepreneurial orientation mediates the relationship between influential dynamic capabilities and the internationalization success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Adopting a quantitative approach, the researchers designed a questionnaire based on an extensive literature review and used structural equation modeling to ascertain the mediating role of international entrepreneurial orientation in the relationship between influential dynamic capabilities and SMEs' internationalization success.

The findings of this study indicate that international entrepreneurship orientation mediates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and internationalization success, as the indirect impact value is greater than the direct effect value for the relationship. Because the existence of the mediator in the model has no significant impact on the model's direct effects, full mediation is the most appropriate mediation type.

This study has some limitations. One of the major limitations of this study relates to the limited finances of the incumbent, as the questionnaires were delivered to the respondents via email, but the incumbent had to follow up with phone calls and reminders. Second, this study mainly relied upon primary data and analysis based on the use of qualitative techniques; in future, researchers can incorporate qualitative aspects using interviews and other qualitative analysis tools and techniques. Third, limitation relates to sample size, as the sample size of research was above 500 but was limited to just UAE. Future researchers can conduct a cross-sectional analysis to determine the mediating role of different factors for the promotion of internationalization.

This study highlights the fundamental factors affecting the internationalization of SMEs in the UAE context, which has rarely been discussed. This study broadens the scope of internationalization by discussing its impact on SMEs' financial and non-financial performance.

This study will contribute to the advancement of current information about the elements that impact the internationalization of SMEs and develop a new framework for analyzing SMEs' internationalization in the UAE.

This study contributes to the literature by developing and testing a framework based on a comprehensive literature review to include different factors and their constructs that impact the potential internationalization of SMEs in developing economies. This study identifies and addresses a research gap regarding the relationship between internationalization and company performance among UAE SMEs.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies face significant challenges in formulating effective strategies to enter international markets, particularly amid uncertain conditions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, there is a pressing need to examine the performance of these SMEs and evaluate their internationalization process. This study aims to examine the effects of international entrepreneurial orientation on the internationalization performance of SMEs and the mediating effects of organizational dynamic capability and organizational culture in Indonesia.

This study used a quantitative method with a survey approach by distributing questionnaires to 206 SMEs in Indonesia that have implemented internationalization practices. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to predict and estimate relationships.

This study finds that one of the SMEs’ strategies to encounter the new normal era of COVID-19 is to improve their internationalization performance, especially by actively participating in international markets. The empirical results show that organizational dynamic capabilities and organizational culture are proven to fully mediate the relationship between international entrepreneurial orientation and the internationalization performance of SMEs. Meanwhile, international entrepreneurial orientation does not directly affect SMEs’ internationalization performance. This study confirms the mediating role of organizational dynamic capabilities and organizational culture in dynamic capabilities theory and their relevance to internationalization.

This study provides valuable insights and encourages owner-managers and policy-makers in emerging economies, particularly Indonesia, to develop organizational dynamic capabilities and organizational culture that align with the demands of internationalization.

Based on the dynamic capability theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of the adaptive capability of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the relationship between business ties and firm performance. This study also investigates the moderating role of technological turbulence in those relationships.

Data were collected from 1,265 SME managers in Turkey. Partial least squares analysis, a variance-based structural equation modelling, was applied to examine a mediated moderation model.

The results support the proposed framework illustrating that business ties are positively related to adaptive capability and firm performance. Moreover, adaptive capability mediates the relationship between business ties and firm performance. The results also indicate that the indirect effect of business ties on firm performance through adaptive capability was moderated by technological turbulence.

SMEs in emerging economies need to enhance their business ties and invest in their adaptive capabilities to increase their performances. This relation becomes more strategic under technologically turbulent environments.

By introducing empirical data from the Turkish emerging context, this paper contributes to our understanding of how SMEs’ relational networks contribute to firm performance. From the dynamic capability perspective, it shows how SMEs use their adaptive capabilities to environmental challenges. It also fills an important gap by showing that environmental uncertainties (specifically technological turbulence) moderate the adaptive capability’s mediating impact on the relationship between business ties and firm performance. The results also provide potential future directions for dynamic capabilities research in emerging contexts.

This study aims to examine the relationships between organizational learning capabilities, open innovation and firm performance (FP) in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the emerging economies.

Data collected from 384 manufacturing SMEs operating across the seven emirates of the UAE were statistically analyzed using SmartPLS 3 to examine the hypotheses of this study.

The results show that organizational learning capabilities positively influences both inbound and outbound dimensions of open innovation (OI). Inbound open innovation (IP) practice positively impacted both market effectiveness and profitability, while outbound open innovation (OP) practice only affected profitability. Findings further confirmed the mediating role of IP practice on the relationships of organizational learning capabilities with market effectiveness and profitability. In contrast, OP practice did not mediate the relationships of organizational learning capabilities with market effectiveness and profitability.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this is among the first study contributing to the extant innovation literature in terms of investigations into the significant and complex interrelations of organizational learning capabilities, OI and FP in a single study, demonstrating various theoretical implications in the context of manufacturing SMEs in emerging countries. Overall, the findings of this study confirmed that the owners/managers of the UAE’s manufacturing SMEs need to be acquainted with the need of creating a working environment fostering organizational learning processes and capabilities to enhance IP and OP activities, thereby improving their market effectiveness and profitability.

Small and mid‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing challenges in an increasingly fierce environment. This paper aims to explore the promise of information systems (IS) in enhancing the survival and competitiveness of SMEs in a dynamic environment. To address this issue, the paper draws upon the dynamic capability theory and develops a research model of IS‐enabled dynamic capabilities to examine the role of IS competence for enhancing SMEs dynamic capabilities in a competitive business environment.

An empirical study is conducted by using survey data from senior managers of 120 SMEs in China.

The analytic outcomes support the research model and confirm that IS competence significantly contributes to SMEs' dynamic capabilities for gaining competitive advantage.

This paper contributes to the literature on IS impact on dynamic capabilities of SMEs by incorporating IS competences into a research model of IS‐enabled dynamic capabilities and articulating the relationships between IS competences and dynamic capabilities of SMEs in a changing business environment. The research findings enrich dynamic capabilities theory by justifying IS as an enabling antecedent for organizational capability development. The findings may empirically convince SMEs owners and management to effectively invest in and deploy IS for enhancing SMEs' dynamic capabilities and performance.

A capability‐building perspective is used to examine how IS can leverage SMEs' capabilities to enhance their competitive advantage in a dynamic environment.

This study aims to investigate how dynamic capabilities, i.e. sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating trigger sustainable innovation performance. It also examines the direct and moderating role of environmental turbulence towards the sustainable innovation performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 169 SMEs in Oman and analysed through structural equation modelling using SmartPLS software.

Findings of this study reveal that the sustainable innovation performance of SMEs is greatly influenced by the synergy of learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities. Notably, among these capabilities, coordinating capability emerges as the most important capability for SMEs with a primary emphasis on fostering both human and organizational well-being. However, this research reveals that building dynamic capabilities alone might not be sufficient to address social, ecological and economic sustainability criteria, and SMEs may need to extend their view beyond internal processes and integrate various environmental contingencies into their approaches while focusing on sustainable innovation performance.

This research is useful for business managers while allocating resources in their business efficiently and effectively to achieve sustainable innovation performance. It also highlights that SMEs need to integrate various environmental contingencies into their approaches while focusing on sustainable innovation performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to contribute to SME scholarship by mainly investigating the effect of specific four types of dynamic capabilities on sustainable innovation performance in a turbulent environment. This study is likely to contribute to the SMEs addressing sustainability innovation performance and develop capabilities to be sustainable in a turbulent environment.

The aim of this research is to analyze sustainable value chain management based on dynamic capabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A qualitative methodology is used, through a multiple case study with three SMEs, to identify the conceptual relationship between the sustainable value chain and dynamic capabilities. Interviews are conducted with managers, and the data are analyzed through content analysis.

It is observed that breaking down barriers in processes is important for establishing the sustainable value chain, generating dynamic capabilities with the readaptation of activities.

It is recommended that studies be conducted in other sectors and in large companies, to identify new perspectives.

The findings of this study demonstrate the constant processes of SMEs in response to legal, bureaucratic and logistical changes, in the generation of dynamic capabilities and sustainable value chain management, to achieve their customers' goals.

The research contributes to the literature on the management of dynamic capabilities in the value chain in Brazilian companies and to the supply chain field, particularly in relation to SMEs.

This research analyzes sustainable value chain management based on dynamic capabilities in Brazilian SMEs, gathering the managers' perceptions regarding changes in the external environment that influence adaptations and alignments, impacting on their businesses.

This study aims to address the following question: when strategic flexibility can be most beneficial to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of emerging economies.

Drawing on dynamic capabilities perspective, this study builds a contingency model and examines it with survey data collected from 166 SMEs in China.

This study finds that the relationship between strategic flexibility and firm performance is extensively moderated by external (competitive intensity and environmental munificence), internal (resource combination activities), as well as bridging factors (managerial ties).

The findings contribute to the contingency view of strategic flexibility and firm performance research by incorporating insights from the dynamic capabilities perspective and by expanding the scope of existing research to emerging economies.