The Source of SMEs’ Competitive Performance in COVID-19: Matching Big Data Analytics Capability to Business Models

Abstract

Literature notes that firms are keen to develop big data analytics capability (BDAC, e.g. big data analytics (BDA) management and technology capability) to improve their competitive performance (e.g. financial performance and growth performance). Unfortunately, the extant literature has limited understanding of the mechanisms by which firms’ BDAC affects their competitive performance, especially in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Using resource capability as the theoretical lens, this paper specifically examines how BDAC influences SMEs’ competitive performance via the mediating role of business models (BMs). Also, this study explores the moderating effect of COVID-19 on the relationship between BDAC and BMs. Supported by Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and data from 242 SMEs in China, this study finds the mediating roles of infrastructure and value attributes of BMs in enhancing the relationship of BDAC on competitive performance. Furthermore, the improvement of financial performance comes from the matching of BDA management capability with infrastructure attributes of BMs, while the improvements in growth come from the matching of BDA management capability and BDA technology capability with value attributes of BMs. The result also confirms the positive moderating effects of COVID-19 on the relationship of BDA management capability and value attributes of BMs. This study enriches the integration of BDAC and BMs literature by showing that the match between BDAC and BMs is vital to achieve competitive performance, and it is helpful for managers to adopt an informed BDA strategy to promote widespread use of BDAs and BMs.

Innovative Technologies and Small-Medium Sized Enterprises in Times of Crisis

“…However, the results also show that the effects of applying each type of analytics are different. Song et al (2022) found that COVID-19 has positive moderating effects on the relationship between big data analytics management capability and value attributes of business models.…”

Beyond Technological Capabilities: The Mediating Effects of Analytics Culture and Absorptive Capacity on Big Data Analytics Value Creation in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

“…The pretest responses are not used in the analysis. Following the pretest, data were gathered through an online survey of midlevel executives, analytics professionals, managers, vice presidents, presidents, CEOs, and founders since they are considered to be the most knowledgeable of their organizations' BDA efforts [13], [60], [61] and have been used in prior influential BDA research (e.g., [1], [7], [9], [13], [27], [45]). A leading national Canadian market research firm with a very large panel of business entities and executives was contracted to collect the data.…”

Systematic literature review on technological transformation in SMEs: a transformation encompassing technology assimilation and business model innovation

“…Another environmental factor that drove technological transformation in SMEs is disruptions, such as the COVID-19 crisis, which have received increasing academic attention within the last 2 years (e.g. Song et al 2022;Musa et al 2022;Akpan et al 2022). In this context, technology was a survival source during the pandemic, as companies adopted digital technologies to maintain their operations (Akpan et al 2021;Priyono et al 2020).…”