How competitiveness factors propel SMEs to achieve competitive advantage?

Purpose- Attempt is made here to assess the contribution of competitiveness factors in howsmall and medium enterprises (SMEs) would access competitive advantage by focusing onindustry structure and devise a conceptual model thereof.Design/methodology/approach The enterprises from three industries consisting ofknowledge-based, single-use medical device producers, and construction stone cutting eachwith different structure were assessed. The method is qualitative and quantitative whereGrounded Theory and Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) are applied. The initial surveyinvolves 36 deep semi-structured interviews with some of the top managers of each of thethree selected industries and a questionnaire distributed among 158 individuals with 46structured questions.Findings- The findings indicate that the micro competitiveness factors are more contributivein achieving competitive advantage than macro factors: in knowledge-based enterprises,customer relationship management (CRM), goods/services features and knowledgemanagement are the most important variables. As to single-use medical device productionindustry, the sales forces, sales promotion, and CRM, and in construction stone cuttingindustry; the quality of stone, sales promotion and advertisement are the most effectivefactors. The results of the EFA indicate that the three impressive factors including capabilitiesof the enterprises, strategies of the enterprises, and macro factors are the extracted factors.Practical implications-The findings here would assist the SMEs` managers in identifying themost essential factors in accessing competitive advantage.Originality/value- The innovation of this study is that although there exist many studies onSMEs and their competitive advantages, this study seeks the models of competitiveadvantage among SMEs in industries with different structures