Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to examine the influence of two dimensions of entrepreneurial competencies, namely, strategic competency and ethical competency on the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and second, to explore the role of network competence as a mediator among these understudied variables. Design/methodology/approach The data for this study were collected from wholesale and retail-based SMEs in Malaysia through a standard structured questionnaire. PLS–SEM approach was utilised to analyse the data. Findings Although the findings did not reveal a direct effect of strategic and ethical competencies of entrepreneurs on SMEs’ growth, these competences, however, were found to be influential in driving their growth when network competence was used as a mediator. Originality/value The existence of a mediation effect between strategic and ethical competencies and SMEs’ growth via network competence has provided insights which add new knowledge to the extant entrepreneurship and SMEs’ performance literature.

No abstract

It is widely acknowledged in the existing studies that innovation has the critical role in firms’ performances. Moreover, it has been acknowledged that innovative activities are the main sources of growth, survivability, and success for SMEs firms. In the setting of entrepreneurship, earlier studies have claimed that innovation is the integrated element of entrepreneurship. However, the existing studies have also revealed inconsistent findings regarding the impacts of innovation on firm’s performances under various contexts. Thus, this study claims that there should be a moderator to facilitate the relationship between innovations and firm’s performances. Therefore, this study has introduced the external integration as a moderator to improve the relationship between types of innovations and firm’s performances. The main objective of the study is to identify the relationship between various types of innovations including process innovation, product innovation, marketing innovation, and organizational innovations and business success operationalized with four dimensions including perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors) under the moderating role of external integration. Three theories namely Strategic Contingency Theory (SCT), Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), and Resource Based View (RBV) have been integrated to develop the proposed theoretical framework. The recent literature has been taken to gather the information about the variables that helped current study to develop a theoretical frame work and then eight propositions have been developed based on proposed theoretical framework. The external integration as a moderator between innovations and business success is the main theoretical contribution of this study. Furthermore, limitations have been stated at the end and recommendations have been made for future research.

Paper aims: Extant Literature based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm suggests that it can be used to study organizations of all types and sizes. In essence, the RBV argues that firms that possess rare, non-imitable, valuable, unique, and non-substitutable resources will outperform firms that do not possess such resources. This study questions the applicability of this assumption to smaller businesses, which are likely to have common resources readily available in the market rather than rare, non-imitable, non-substitutable, unique, or valuable resources. The purpose of this study is to discuss whether the composition-based view (CBV) of the firm offers a more promising approach than the RBV to studying small businesses. Originality: This study is one of the first to tentatively suggest a change in theoretical approach when studying small businesses. Research method: A structured critical review approach is taken. Main findings: The findings reveal that the CBV offers a more promising and appropriate theoretical framework than the RBV for research on small businesses, whereas the RBV is better suited to research on larger firms. Implications for theory and practice: Future studies can use the RBV and the CBV to study large and small businesses, respectively.

No abstract