Today's small and medium enterprise (SMEs) are under pressure to pursue complex growth strategies in order to increase their competitiveness and keep up with the rapidly changing international environment and sustainability. SMEs lack a holistic perspective on sustainability and internationalization; they are frequently hindered from contemplating environmentally favorable investments beyond what is legally needed. The purpose of this paper is to present a joint Fuzzy Delphi and Neutrosophic DEMATEL for identifying and finding cause‐effect relationship among international sustainable competitiveness factors for SMEs. This study addresses the issue by exploring international sustainable competitiveness factors and applying the novel method that integrate Fuzzy Delphi and Neutrosophic DEMATEL for understanding the cause‐effect relationship among them. Moreover, prioritizing the factors for attaining international sustainable competitiveness for Indian manufacturing SMEs. The findings show that “Managerial Orientation” and “Economic Performance” are the important for SMEs in gaining International sustainable competitiveness. Prioritizing factors and their cause‐and‐effect relationships allowed decision‐makers to concentrate on overcoming them in order to increase international sustainable Competitiveness. These findings offer some preliminary information as well as advice for managers and policymakers looking to integrate sustainable efforts. The study's objective is to aid executives in understanding the elements of their respective businesses' international sustainable competitiveness. The outcome demonstrates the strongest correlation between managerial orientation and economic performance. The originality of this study lies in its empirical research on Indian SMEs, which uses the Fuzzy Delphi and Neutrosophic DEMATEL method framework as a base for establishing cause‐and‐effect relationships among various international sustainable competitiveness factors.

The nature of foreign markets, as well as the issues Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face in terms of competitiveness, necessitates this study. The paper aims to analyze the challenges ofexport-oriented Indian SMEs for International Competitiveness. The paper explores challenges and cause-and-effect relations between them using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique (DEMATEL), and this study will assist in gaining international competitiveness for SMEs. A detailed literature review was conducted to identify various challenges to international competitiveness. Questionnaires were formed for data collection and the DEMATEL method has been employed for developing causal relationships. The findings show that "Less International Experience" and "Insufficient Information" are critical challenges for SMEs in gaining international competitiveness. Challenges were prioritized, along with the cause-and-effect correlations among them, so that decision-makers could focus on overcoming them to gain international Competitiveness. The goal of the study is to help executives recognize the challenges to international competitiveness in their respective businesses. The novelty of this paper lies in its empirical studies in the field of Indian SMEs to employ the DEMATEL method framework as a foundation for finding cause-effect connections across International Competitiveness challenges.

Purpose It is critical for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to review and monitor sustainability performance indicators across three dimensions: economic, environmental and social to attain long-term competitiveness. SMEs lack a holistic perspective on sustainability; they are frequently hindered from contemplating environmentally favorable investments beyond what is legally needed. The purpose of this paper is to present a joint Decision-making trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and NK methodology for developing a process model for introducing and implementing sustainable competitiveness practices for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach This study addresses the issue by adopting a sustainable competitiveness practices framework and applying a novel method that integrates DEMATEL and NK model for evaluating and developing the implementation path model for Indian manufacturing SMEs. Findings This paper also demonstrates that not only the relational practice itself but also the order in which the relational practices are implemented can be related to performance. According to the authors' preliminary findings, organizations in this study should first implement a social dimension, which includes sustainable leadership, knowledge sharing, etc., then an economic dimension like quality, sustainable innovations, etc., and finally environmental dimensions like green marketing, solid waste reduction, etc., with their management for competitiveness. Research limitations/implications These findings offer some preliminary information as well as advice for managers and policymakers looking to integrate sustainable efforts. Practical implications This study asserts that not only the interdependent practice but also the sequence of implementation is important and can relate to the performance. The path result shows that the organization develops first sustainable design and product development (economic), sustainable leadership (social) and solid waste reduction (environmental) practices. Originality/value There is no such study that develops a process model for introducing and implementing sustainable competitiveness of SMEs which assesses and analyzes the interdependencies across relational behaviors, to the best of authors’ knowledge. The novelty of this work lies in integrating DEMATEL-NK model approach.

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