Dynamic capabilities, competitiveness and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises: a systematic literature review

Dynamic capability theory was developed as part of the Resource Based View (RBV) to explain business performance and the notion of competitive advantage. The objective of this article is to offer a systematic overview of the scientific literature around the theory of Dynamic Capacities (DCs in relation to the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), it aims to explore how the theory of DCs has been approached by different authors in an SME context, and to examine the contribution of DCs to performance and their competitive advantage. One hundred and fifty-five relevant scientific contributions from 22 journals between 1997 and 2021 were analyzed through careful classification according to discipline, method and country. This literature review offers a summary of the state of the art and shares various trends and developments regarding this emerging research area. Among other things, it demonstrates the existence of conceptual ambiguities, different definitions and a lack of qualitative articles: this contributes to a wide range of research topics. Our analysis shows that DCs have received higher corroboration in the SME context than in the large enterprise context (Pezeshkan et al., 2016), and also a higher level of empirical support than RBV (Newbert, 2007)and other approaches in strategic management research such as transaction cost theory (David & Han, 2004). Thus, a need for empirical evidence and production of an explanatory nature is also noted: many hypotheses on the contribution of DCs to the competitive advantage of SMEs remain to be demonstrated. Moreover, this work highlights the significant and generally positive contribution of DCs to the performance of SMEs. Keywords: Dynamic capabilities, Small and Medium Enterprises, Resource Based View, competitive advantage, performance. JEL Classification: M19 Paper type: theoretical ResearchDynamic capability theory was developed as part of the Resource Based View (RBV) to explain business performance and the notion of competitive advantage. The objective of this article is to offer a systematic overview of the scientific literature around the theory of Dynamic Capacities (DCs in relation to the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), it aims to explore how the theory of DCs has been approached by different authors in an SME context, and to examine the contribution of DCs to performance and their competitive advantage. One hundred and fifty-five relevant scientific contributions from 22 journals between 1997 and 2021 were analyzed through careful classification according to discipline, method and country. This literature review offers a summary of the state of the art and shares various trends and developments regarding this emerging research area. Among other things, it demonstrates the existence of conceptual ambiguities, different definitions and a lack of qualitative articles: this contributes to a wide range of research topics. Our analysis shows that DCs have received higher corroboration in the SME context than in the large enterprise context (Pezeshkan et al., 2016), and also a higher level of empirical support than RBV (Newbert, 2007)and other approaches in strategic management research such as transaction cost theory (David & Han, 2004). Thus, a need for empirical evidence and production of an explanatory nature is also noted: many hypotheses on the contribution of DCs to the competitive advantage of SMEs remain to be demonstrated. Moreover, this work highlights the significant and generally positive contribution of DCs to the performance of SMEs. Keywords: Dynamic capabilities, Small and Medium Enterprises, Resource Based View, competitive advantage, performance. JEL Classification: M19 Paper type: theoretical Researc