Business‐to‐business (B2B) e‐commerce adoption by Egyptian manufacturing SMEs is an important tool to gain competitive advantage. It is important to understand the levels of B2B e‐commerce adoption among Egyptian manufacturing SMEs and the different factors that influence each level of such adoption. The Technology–Organization–Environment framework factors have a significant impact on the different levels of B2B e‐commerce adoption by Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. Technology–Organization–Environment framework factors have an indirect impact on Egyptian manufacturing SMEs competitive advantage.

Business-to-business e-commerce adoption has become increasingly important for small and medium-sized enterprises, allowing them to gain and sustain competitive advantage. B2B adopted at different levels based on different resource endowments leads to competitive advantage being gained and sustained in proportion to that level of adoption. This study uses structural equation modelling to investigate how levels of B2B e-commerce adoption affects and contributes to gaining and sustaining competitive advantage in both US and Egyptian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. The key finding is that small and mediumsized enterprises can achieve growth in market share and sales that helps them to improve their position in the global market through higher levels of business-to-business e-commerce adoption. Implications of the study, its limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

B2B e‐commerce adoption enables SMEs to gain and sustain competitive advantage in a dynamic competitive environment.

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