Marketing strategy and competitiveness: Evidence from Colombian SMEs

Abstract

This study evaluates how three distinct marketing strategies (i.e., marketing communication, marketing innovation, and marketing uniqueness) impact the competitiveness level of Colombian SMEs. We use a unique primary dataset drawn from the Global Competitiveness Project that includes information for 176 Colombian SMEs during 2019. We employ a regression model to test the proposed hypotheses highlighting the relevance of marketing innovation, uniqueness, and communication for SMEs' competitiveness. The findings reveal that Colombian SMEs are frequent users of marketing strategies. Results show that larger SMEs that use marketing strategies are more competitive than smaller ones. It was also found that strategic emphasis, which implies that SMEs work with one of the evaluated strategies, contributes to competitiveness. However, managers should consider the synergistic effects of using more than one strategy. The relevance of this study is to present a model that shows how larger SMEs can capitalize on different marketing strategies to consolidate their competitiveness level in the Colombian context.

How do transport companies execute strategies in a volatile environment? A qualitative inquiry

“…This continuous exposure to the brand helps in brand recall and can attract more users of the companies' services. Such results concur with studies by Moreno-Gómez et al . (2023), who contend that that marketing communication strategy in the form of brand equity generates a long-term competitive advantage among Colombian SMEs.…”

“…(2023), who contend that that marketing communication strategy in the form of brand equity generates a long-term competitive advantage among Colombian SMEs. While Moreno-Gómez et al . (2023) add value to this study; it was however done in a developed country.…”

The comparison of RBV-based competitiveness of Hungarian family-owned and non-family-owned SMEs

“…The RBV-based SME competitiveness methodology adapted and improved by GCP, was first introduced by Szerb et al (2014). Since then, the GCP approach has been applied to the study of family firms (Moreno-Gómez and Lafuente, 2019), to non-parametric efficiency analysis (Lafuente and Vaillant, 2021), to the analysis of configurations of resources and capabilities (Lafuente et al , 2020a; Lafuente et al , 2020b), to analyse cross-variable correlations of competitiveness (Dvouletý and Blažková, 2021), to understand the peculiarities of SME digitalisation (Lányi et al , 2021; Lafuente et al , 2023), to research relationships of marketing strategies and competitiveness (Moreno-Gómez et al , 2023), to the quantification of intellectual capital and the empirical analysis of innovation relationships (Rideg et al , 2023), to the empirical analysis of RBV product innovation (Lukovszki et al , 2021) and to evaluate the co-innovation trajectory of firms adopting different collaborative innovation networks (Lafuente et al , 2023).…”

The mediating role of marketing management in the relationship between online presence and product innovation among SMEs

“…It entails the ability of organizations to develop and implement marketing mix decisions to differentiate and facilitate the commercialization of Online presence and product innovation products (Kumar et al, 2011;Adams et al, 2019). SMEs with adequate marketing management can capitalize on their innovation capacity to develop better products (Dogbe et al, 2020;Moreno-G omez et al, 2023). Marketing management may improve product innovation through market analysis and customer interaction (Sulistyo and Siyamtinah, 2016).…”