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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of customer-focus on small medium enterprise (SME) performance from the perspective of a resource-based view (RBV).

This research study implemented a survey strategy to gather data from 255 respondents on the registered list of Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) in the eastern region of Ghana. Scales used to gather data were operationalized from previous research studies. A structural equation modeling (SEM) path analysis was used to estimate the impact of customer-focus on the performance of SMEs.

The outcomes of this study indicate that customer-focus has a significant positive impact on SME performance, hence backing the current demand for investigating the distinct influence of customer-focus on SME performance. The results show that customer-focus has a positive and significant relationship with financial performance, customer performance, internal business process performance and learning and growth performance, thus supporting the literature on the positive impact of customer-focus on SME performance. Therefore, customer-focus determinants used in this study, including co-creation, networking ties, customer insight and artificial intelligence marketing (AIM), are critical to the optimization of SME performance.

Notwithstanding the importance of this research study mentioned earlier, the study has limitations. Notably, the sample size of this study can be increased to capture SME respondents in other geographical zones that were not included in this study. Future research studies may address how business environment conditions moderate the relationship between customer focus and performance, and also the cause-effect of the relationship between customer focus and business environment conditions on SME performance.

The practical implications consist of two main items. First, this study empowers SME owners and managers to develop a customer focus technique as a central strategic goal in their quest for SME performance optimization. Second, SME owners and managers should progressively exploit the four determinants of customer focus which include co-creation, networking ties, customer insight and (AIM in order to accrue important resources for effective utilization of their customer focus competences as a way to enhance their performance.

This study is targeted at the sound development of SMEs to bring about poverty alleviation and employment. Poverty, unemployment and poor living standards are recognized as vital social challenges in most emerging economies. The establishment of customer focus as an important strategic capability provides opportunities for SME survival, profitability and growth.

Generally, the findings of this research study provide a strong backing to RBV perspective and the proposition that customer-focus and its determinants (i.e. co-creation, networking ties, customer insight and AIM) should be acknowledged as a vital strategic resource for optimizing the performance of SMEs. This research study also provides new knowledge contribution to the present body of knowledge on customer-focus orientation and management literature, particularly in the context of an emerging economy.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate the mediating role of learning capability on the relationship between technological capability, relational capability and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance in developing economy of Africa.

A quantitative survey design was employed to collect the data from owner/manager of manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria. Partial least square structural equation model was used in the evaluation of both the measurement and structural models to determine the reliability and validity of the measurement and test the hypotheses, respectively.

The statistical result indicates a positive relationship between technological capability, learning capability and SMEs performance. Equally, relational capability significantly and positively relates to SMEs learning capability. However, relational capability negatively relates to SMEs performance, while technological capability also negatively relates to learning capability. Furthermore, learning capability mediates the negative relationship of relational capability and SMEs performance to significant positive relationship, while it does not mediate the relationship of technological capability and performance.

The analysis of this study is restricted to only resource-based view and dynamic capability theory. Data of the study were collected once a time on a self-reported technique. The study contributed significantly to the body literature on technological and relational capabilities and performance. It also demonstrated the need for SMEs manager to recognize and appreciate the roles of these strategic capabilities in achieving sustainable competitive position.

Through relational capability SMEs develops efficient collaborative relationship to acquire new techniques, knowledge. This is specifically, essential for SMEs firms from less developing and emerging economies as they are lagging behind at the global competitive platform, and that the possession of specific advantage locally may not be adequately enough to help penetrate the global markets. Similarly, technological capability enable firms to identify acquire and apply new external knowledge to develop operational competencies which may lead to the attainment of superior performance.

Government policies and programs designed to support technological development and innovation must be adjusted to consider the peculiar nature of SMEs firms in terms of technology and innovativeness that enhances competitive position and performance.

This study empirically examined the relationship of technological and relational capabilities and the SMEs learning capability and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of innovation on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

The paper uses data from the surveys on SMEs in Vietnam conducted by the Development Economics Research Group at the University of Copenhagen, the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research, Central Institute for Economic Management and Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, and applies least squared regressions and 2SLS regressions to examine the effect of innovation on the performance of SMEs.

The authors find that SMEs with innovation tend to perform better than SMEs without innovation. The authors further show that the positive effect of innovation on firm performance mainly comes from the effect of improvement of existing products, an important type of innovation in SMEs. This result is persistent when the authors use propensity matching score and 2SLS regression with instrumental variable approaches. Overall, the results show the important role of innovation in enhancing the firm performance of SMEs, which sheds light on the literature on the controversial relation between innovation and SMEs performance in the world.

The major limitation of the paper is the lack of data. Although the database used in the paper is widely used to analyze SMEs in Vietnam, it covers about 2,500 firms in only nine provinces/cities in Vietnam.

Policymakers should enact relevant policies to support SMEs with innovation activities, thereby increasing firm performance and their competitiveness. For instance, encouragement policies or financial incentives (tax reduction or subsidies) for innovative firms should be implemented and/or fostered.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the effect of different types of innovation on the performance of SMEs in Vietnam.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide access to external real-time information and establish digital connectivity between firms to remain competitive. This study aims to focus on SMEs’ downstream and upstream platform-based digital connectivity (PDC).

This study examines the effects of PDC on SMEs’ operational performance under conditions of environmental turbulence. The data was gathered from 192 SMEs operating in the manufacturing arena.

The results show that the adoption of PDC does not directly affect an SME’s operational performance. However, in highly turbulent environments, PDC can improve operational performance. The results indicate that the performance effects of PDC vary according to the level and type of environmental turbulence.

This research offers insights into the relationship between PDC among SMEs and operational performance and encourages future research examining other possible conditional effects that could explain the contradictory results found in previous research.

This study contributes to the knowledge of supply-chain digitalization among SMEs and its performance effects in varying environmental conditions. Further, this study contributes to the prior research by focusing on the interorganizational aspects of digitalization in SMEs.

Taking the customer-centric nature of integrated marketing communications (IMC), this article investigates the specific role of customer performance in IMC effectiveness in various size companies applying inter-country context.

The sample consists of the primary data from developed (Spain) and developing (Belarus) economies. A total of 540 manager respondents participated in the survey. The article uses structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis for analysis.

When taking into consideration, customer performance affects the IMC outcome on the market and financial performance. The customer performance role varies in firms of various sizes and small- and medium -sized enterprises (SMEs) operating both in developed and developing economies.

The research underlines the significant role of customer performance in IMC implementation, which stimulates further investigation on the topic. It also closes the gap in the IMC outcomes analysis in SMEs operating in developed and developing economies.

Customer evaluation plays a vital role in the IMC outcomes for market growth and financial returns. SMEs and larger companies implement IMC with different levels of effectiveness. SMEs with IMC implementation can gain an advantage over larger rivals and improve their market position. Moreover, the study generalizes the results by applying inter-country context.

This is a pioneering study of the complex IMC outcomes model under firms' size moderate conditions. The research applies an inter-country context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction effect of commercial loans in between trade Credit, retain earning, and entrepreneurial small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance.

In this research, the cross-sectional research design was used, and data were collected from 362 SMEs located in Pakistan by using a questionnaire. Correlation and regression analysis was adopted to establish the interaction effect of commercial loans in between trade credits, retain earning and entrepreneurial SMEs performance.

The results demonstrated that commercial loans, trade credit and retain earning have a positive relationship with entrepreneurial SMEs performance. The findings also confirmed the interaction effect of commercial loans in between retain earnings, trade credit and entrepreneurial SMEs performance.

The study examined the association and interaction effect of commercial loans in between retain earnings, trade credit and SMEs performance in the emerging state (Pakistan). So, this is the first time to study the relationship between these variables, which highly contributes to entrepreneurial SMEs literature.

This paper aims to study the influence of innovation on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) performance in Colombia through the 403 MSMES survey analysis. In particular, this paper measures the effect of participation in R&D alliances, product innovation and process innovation on it.

MSME performance is measured through a composite index, estimated through principal components analysis using polychoric correlations, which is based on eight self-reported assessments of MSME performance. Then, this measure of performance is related to MSME participation in R&D alliances and the product and process development stance of the MSME based on an adaptation of the Miles and Snow business classification scheme, by means of an ANOVA and a linear regression.

Colombian SMEs are not significantly benefitted from participation on R&D alliances. Instead, their performance appears to be dependent upon their internal innovation efforts directed to product development. Moreover, the results suggest that imitators get a performance almost as high as innovators.

Innovation activities in Colombian SMEs are carried out informally, as they are mostly uninterested to engage in R&D activities and to develop new products by own initiative. Moreover, few of them have an R&D department. In regard to technology, results suggest that almost half of SMEs are classified as followers, namely, they use the same technology as competitors.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of innovation orientation dimensions on the performance of manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.

Probability sampling technique, particularly, simple random method, was used for this study. Approximately, 81% response rate was achieved from a total sample size of 346. Furthermore, PLS-SEM technique was used to determine the relationships among the study variables.

The result showed that market innovation significantly predicted SMEs’ performance. Conversely, non-significant positive nexus was established between process innovation and SMEs’ performance as well as product innovation and SMEs’ performance.

Based on the outcome, the stakeholders in the SME sector should aim at improving their market, products and process innovations.

Despite the importance attached to the employment of innovation in the SME sector by scholars in the extant literature, studies involving dimensions of innovation orientation on SMEs’ performance were not much seen in literature. This study enriched literature by determining the relationships between the innovation orientation dimensions and SMEs’ performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine high-tech small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supply chain partnerships. Partnerships are considered at the level of business function rather than the entire organisation. Second, the drivers of SMEs to engage in partnerships are assessed to see whether functions engage in partnerships for different reasons. Third, performance per function is assessed to see the differential effect of partnerships on the function’s performance.

In this study, the relationship between the drivers of SMEs to engage in partnerships, four types of partnerships (marketing and sales, research and development (R&D), purchasing and logistics, and production) and four types of functional performances of firms (marketing and sales, R&D, purchasing and logistics, and production) are examined. The data have been collected from 279 SMEs. The proposed hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that there are considerable differences between business functions in terms of the degree of involvement in partnerships and the effect of partnerships on the performance of these functions. This paper contributes to research by explaining the contradictory results of partnerships on SMEs performance.

This study helps firms understand which type of partnership should be established based on the firm’s drivers to engage in supply chain partnership; and which partnership has a significant effect on which type of business performance of the firm.

The originality of this study is to investigate the relationship between different drivers to engage in supply chain partnership and different types of partnerships and different functional performance of firm in a single model.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of innovation capability and strategic goals in the financial performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.

Innovative capabilities and strategic goals in SMEs and their influence on financial performance were recognized and briefly debated according to the existing literature. Hypotheses were tested on research data on 340 SMEs in Ghana, which were conveniently selected. Finally, quantitative analysis was done, followed by a discussion of the research findings.

Results from the study have proved that strategic goals have a strong positive relationship with financial performance. Also, there is a strong, positive and highly significant impact innovative capacity has on financial performance. Finally, the study found that innovative capability moderates the relationship between strategic goals and financial performance. It showed that at high levels of innovative capacity, high levels of strategic goals boost financial performance massively.

The findings are limited to SMEs in Ghana. Researchers should study why SMEs may not pursue any innovation capability activities as they have positive impact on their financial performance. They may also focus on strategic goals and financial performance.

The study shows a necessity for longer-term innovation perspectives and a higher level of the importance of the application and assessment of strategic goals. Business owners and caretakers need greater awareness about the importance of innovation capability and strategic goals and their influence on the overall financial performance of SMEs. This will help them to adopt right innovate procedures for their businesses.

One of few research works to examine innovation capability and strategic goals on the financial performance of SMEs in a developing country.