Resilience and competitiveness of small and medium size enterprises: an empirical research

TLDR

SMEs, typically employing 50–200 people, face heightened competition from globalisation and technological advances, making resilience and strategic adaptation essential for survival. The authors reviewed literature on SME characteristics and emerging strategies, techniques, and technologies, then empirically tested a resulting framework using data from SMEs. The study identified key resilience and competitiveness enablers, with a sample of 40 Massachusetts SMEs revealing that operational strategy, technology, and globalisation drive these factors, and summarized the conclusions.

Abstract

A small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) is normally a company that employs about 50–200 people. Because of the globalisation of market and operations, and technological advances, the competition among SMEs has radically increased over the years, and their survival is increasingly dependent on a number of factors including resilience of SMEs to refocus some of their strategies and technologies. In this article, a review of selected literature has been undertaken on some of the SME characteristics and new strategies, techniques and technologies that can provide a competitive advantage and sustainability in the global market and operations. Based on the literature review, a framework has been developed with key factors/enablers that determine the resilience and competitiveness of SMEs. This framework has been empirically studied by collecting data from SMEs. It involves a sample of 40 SMEs in the Southcoast of Massachusetts and provides further insight into the key characteristics associated with resilience and competitiveness of SMEs that are influenced by advances in operations strategies, technology and globalisation. Finally, a detailed summary of findings and conclusions are presented.