Manufacturing Small And Medium Enterprises Research Articles

Adoption of artificial intelligence for manufacturing SMEs’ growth and survival in South Africa

This study advances research and practice related to adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of South Africa (SA). The study evaluated AI adoption by South African manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); established the challenges faced by manufacturing SMEs in adopting AI; and developed a framework for adopting AI for manufacturing SMEs’ growth and survival. The study adopted a systematic literature review approach. Articles from Scopus and Google scholar databases, ranging from the years 2018 to 2024, were used. Of the 206 articles found, 54 were shortlisted. The systematic review analysis was performed using the PRISMA framework. The results identified AI adoption by South African manufacturing SMEs is low, limiting their innovation and productivity. The results also show, despite the numerous benefits AI adoption can offer manufacturing SMEs in the country, a major constraint is the lack of a framework to enhance adoption and implementation. Hence, this study was conducted to develop a framework to improve AI adoption by South African manufacturing SMEs. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge and provide new insights to manufacturing SME owners/managers, policymakers and practitioners into AI adoption to enhance manufacturing SMEs’ ability to compete on the global stage.

Unlocking New Product Performance Through Market Orientation and Firm Capabilities in Malaysian Manufacturing SMEs

In Malaysia, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are critical to the economic transformation as they form the key domestic source of growth and the bedrock of private sector activity. Moreover, SMEs are also important in stimulating innovation and stabilizing growth during the economic slowdown. Therefore, this paper investigates how the relationships between a firm’s market orientation and its new product performance are mediated by such capabilities (marketing and technological capabilities). Embedded in the firm's Resource-based View (RBV), a theoretical framework for new product performance was developed. The empirical results demonstrate that a firm’s market orientation positively impacts new product performance. Also confirms that marketing capabilities do have a direct impact on new product performance. Besides, marketing capabilities serve as an indirect-only mediator (full mediation) for the relationship between market orientation and new product performance. A clear message for managers and owners is that they should develop strong firm capabilities to achieve superior new product performance.

Factors influencing the adoption of mobile-based AI services in Tanzanian manufacturing SMEs

Purpose This study aims to establish a comprehensive framework for adopting mobile-based artificial intelligence (AI) services in Tanzanian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach The methodology involved conducting a literature review and using the combination of Mobile Services Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) as a theoretical foundation. This synthesis delves into the current knowledge on technology adoption, organizational behavior and innovation diffusion, creating a solid conceptual basis. Expert review was used for framework validation to ensure the framework's accuracy. Findings This study shows that the factors influencing the adoption of mobile-based AI services in Tanzanian manufacturing SMEs include perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, context, personal initiatives and characteristics, trust, infrastructure, cost, mobility, power distance, compatibility, observability and trialability. Research limitations/implications The framework provides valuable insights tailored to Tanzanian sociocultural and economic nuances. However, its generalizability is limited due to its specificity to Tanzanian manufacturing SMEs. Practical implications The framework outlined in this research provides SME leaders, policymakers and technology implementers with valuable guidance to make informed decisions during the adoption process. Originality/value This study introduces a novel lens for understanding technology adoption. This study's focus on the Tanzanian context and its nuanced examination of contributing factors add to its originality and practical significance.

A Proposed Frame Work for Enhancing Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are important agents of development throughout the world. Promoting a country’s SME sector plays a crucial role in maintaining high employment and income generation and is therefore critical for achieving sustainable grow by enhancing SMEs competitiveness. The general objective of this paper is to develop a theoretical frame work model for garment SMEs competitiveness that supports garment manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to enhance their competitiveness by identifying the possible competitiveness factors. To achieve the presented objectives, a purposive sample basis on selected garments manufacturing SMEs found at three different clusters in Addis Abeba city administration is used. The data in this paper are both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected though questionnaires, interviews and observations, while secondary data sources referred from company’s documents and several articles from reputable international journals. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are used to analyse the collected data using various statistical programs. The results of the paper found that in garment manufacturing SMEs the main difficulties faced in performance dimension which is divided into financial performance and non-financial performance are the lack of collateral, the lack of proven track records, the lack of proper business plans and the need to show good sales turnover are the major financial performance parameters that deters the competitiveness. The SMEs do not have well established system to support effective and efficient implementation systems for productivity improvement. Finally the garment manufacturing SMEs are potentially wasting valuable and scarce resources since they don’t implement productivity improvement tools and techniques Lack of appropriate machinery and equipment are the main non-financial performance parameter that deters the competitiveness. To tackle the problems and enhance competitiveness of garment manufacturing firms, a theoretical conceptual model based on this requirement has been developed and the implementation requires a coordinated and well organized system among the actors (at macro and micro level) in the value chain. Some of the major problems such as lack of skilled manpower and infrastructure have to be tackled by the government and private sectors. And the other problems could be approached by using some modern management philosophies (such as just-in-time manufacturing, business process re-engineering, lean production) and scientific methods like production planning and control.

Driving sustainability in industry 5.0 through sociotechnical approach of quality management

Industry 4.0 is primarily driven by technology, while Industry 5.0 (I5.0) places more emphasis on the interaction between human (socio) and technology (technical) aspects in shaping sustainability. Although I5.0 represents a burgeoning area of research, however, there remains a paucity of research on the sociotechnical perspective of quality management (QM) and sustainability in I5.0. This study intends to investigate the direct and indirect effects of socio-technical components of QM on sustainable performance through agile manufacturing, as well as the moderating role of firm size on these relationships. Data is gathered from 298 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through a survey approach employing proportionate stratified sampling techniques. The findings support the socio-technical view of QM in Industry 5.0. Unexpectedly, employee education and training has no significant role in enhancing technical QM practices. Furthermore, QM and agile manufacturing are crucial to achieving sustainable performance in manufacturing SMEs. Finally, firm size has played a significant role as a moderating variable, particularly in I5.0. Based on the findings, the study offers novel theoretical contributions and practical implications by shedding light on the nuanced role of QM and agile manufacturing on sustainability within Malaysian manufacturing SMEs.

Stakeholder pressure and circular supply chain practices: Moderating roles of environmental information exchange capability and circular innovation orientation

AbstractThis study deploys institutional theory and Resource orchestration theory (ROT) to examine the roles supply chain stakeholder pressure, circular innovation orientation (CIO) and environmental information exchange capability (EIEC) play in adopting Circular supply chain (CSC) practices. This study uses a partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) to analyse survey data gathered from 290 managers of manufacturing Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. This study finds that pressure from supply chain stakeholders substantially drives manufacturing SMEs' CSC practices. This study confirms that EIEC negatively moderates the relationship between supply chain stakeholder pressure and CSC practices. Finally, this study confirms the complementarity between CIO and EIEC through moderating effects between supply chain stakeholder pressure and CSC practices. This study advances circular supply chain management (CSCM) literature by testing a research framework that examines important but rarely studied roles of CIO and EIEC in SMEs' CSC practices adoption under supply chain stakeholder pressure through institutional and resource orchestration perspectives.

Designing a Sustainability Assessment Framework for Peruvian Manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises Applying the Stakeholder Theory Approach

Among the main obstacles affecting the competitiveness of Peruvian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are poor strategic planning and incipient use of management control systems that support the integration of sustainable practices for the growth of the organization. Not considering sustainability in the strategy and management control systems of Peruvian SMEs can jeopardize their stability and growth, as they are part of the supply chain of large companies that look for suppliers that comply with sustainability standards. Since manufacturing SMEs play a vital role in the economies and social welfare of countries, providing them with appropriate management tools to evaluate the sustainable performance of their activities is urgent to assure their survival. Thus, the aim of this study is to design a holistic sustainability assessment framework that enables Peruvian manufacturing SMEs to evaluate the full integration of sustainability into their business strategy and the creation of value for each stakeholder. Based on the gaps found in the literature review, a conceptual assessment framework was designed, then a multiple-case study was conducted in three Peruvian manufacturing SMEs in the plastic sector, and the data obtained were used to deploy the proposed conceptual assessment framework.

Advanced Sustainability Action Plan: Supporting manufacturing SMEs on a sustainability pathway

The manufacturing industry faces numerous challenges: increasing energy and material costs, limited resources availability, customers’ and legal requirements on product quality, climate action, social standards. An example for a political and regulative push is the European Green Deal and the Industry 5.0 strategy announced by the European Commission, which requires manufacturing enterprises to take actions to improve sustainability. Especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) require support to identify potentially suitable actions to implement.This paper proposes a guided decision support method for SMEs to help them on the sustainability pathway. With a multi-step procedure, the current status of a specific company regarding sustainability actions, their development goals, challenging fields of action, plans and interests in application of advanced technologies and social or environmental services can be identified. Starting from a questionnaire-based self-assessment, relevant fields of actions are derived and potential advanced technologies, social innovations and environmental services are identified. The developed approach combines evaluation of the assessment results, as well as online workshops with SMEs to refine the obtained information, align the suggested set of actions with needs of the companies and prioritize them. As result of this procedure, participating SMEs receive an advanced sustainability action plan (ASAP), which helps them to prioritize available measures to implement on their individual sustainability pathway. The ASAP has been implemented for 41 companies within an online community hub system designed to match and join technology and service providers with manufacturing SMEs. "Processes and Production system" was identified as the most important action field for 41% of SMEs, highlighting the need for efficiency improvement in production processes.

Green manufacturing practices and SMEs’ sustainable performance: a moderated mediation mechanisms of green innovation and managerial discretion

PurposeDrawing on the resource-based view, ecological modernization theory and upper-echelon theory, this study aims to explore how green manufacturing practices (GMGP) affect the sustainable performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachIt also examines the mediating role of green innovation (GIN) and the moderating role of managerial discretion (MD). To test the hypothesized model, the data was collected from 394 manufacturing SMEs though survey and analyzed using SPSS and AMOS (SEM).FindingsThe results provide evidence for the positive relationship between GMGP and corporate sustainable performance (CSPR), mediated by GIN. Furthermore, the presence of MD enhances the positive effect of GMGP on CSPR through GIN. Thus, this study enhances the understanding of the relationship between GMGP and CSPR, including its underlying mechanism and conditional effects.Research limitations/implicationsThis study collected sample from SMEs located in Punjab province of Pakistan which represents majority of the SMEs; however, future research can take data from other province and with large sample size.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the significance of GMGP and GIN in the manufacturing sector for attaining CSPR goals. GMGP guides business leaders to be more inclined toward the energy and resource consumption as well as waste generation within their organizations which lead to improved CSPR outcomes.Originality/valueThe findings of this study make significant contributions to the existing literature, shedding light on the dynamics between GMGP and CSPR. Moreover, the study offers managerial implications for organizations aiming to enhance their sustainable performance by implementing effective GMGP.

Effect of internal barriers on innovation performance in embryonic SMEs in Malaysia

Manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to propel their creativity and innovativeness to enhance their innovation performance in the competitive and fast-changing environment. The current environment has transformed the internal working pattern, structure, and communication system to survive the rough business ecosphere. Consequently, SMEs encountered innumerable barriers to achieve the innovation performance and the SMEs should recognise the internal barriers so that they are able to accelerate their innovation performance. Therefore, this study aims at examining the internal barriers namely constraint in financial resources, constraint in technology, and constraint in human resources that hamper the innovation performance among the Malaysian manufacturing SMEs. This study embarked on two phases of data collection. First phase includes a series of semi-structured interviews with 15 participants from 5 SMEs via snowballing technique to gather their insights on internal barriers that impede innovation performance. For second phase, the survey method was adopted, and 217 SMEs responded to the survey. All the responses were analysed using SmartPLS technique. The interview findings demonstrate that all the internal constraints are indeed important for SMEs to grasp and serve as the obstacles for innovation performance. Nevertheless, from the quantitative analysis, only financial constraints serve as the significant barrier that impede innovation performance. To summarise, this research produces insights on decisive proof regarding internal barriers that inhibit the manufacturing SMEs to achieve innovation performance.

Modular Ontology to Support Manufacturing SMEs Toward Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) implementation is a hot topic among manufacturing organizations to reach smart factory status and integrate a fully connected ecosystem. Achieving such a transition presents notable challenges for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) since they often face resource and skilled personnel limitations. This study developed a domain ontology to represent various stages of maturity toward I4.0 implementation. Ontology provides a tool for SMEs to self-assess in situations of machines, processes, and factories for the dimensions of control, integration, and intelligence. This study focused on the identification of classes and relationships according to I4.0 implementation situations in the context of a manufacturing setting, the reuse of ontologies related to the domain of observations to model situations, and the creation and validation of the ontology through the information obtained from the questionnaires applied to SMEs. Finally, the ontology delivers a tool to understand SMEs' current state concerning I4.0 implementation and plan based on informed decisions about the maturity state and the technology required to advance to the next stage in their manufacturing processes.

Small and medium business transformational leadership and supply chain management

The performance-related problems facing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa are well known. Efforts to find lasting solutions are ongoing and include empirical research focusing on various business practices and models. Applying leadership practices and supply chain management to SMEs provides fertile ground for groundbreaking solutions. This study tested the relationship between transformational leadership, supply chain execution and supply chain performance in manufacturing SMEs in South Africa. The study uses structural equation modelling to examine this empirical connection using data collected from 411 professional employees drawn from SMEs in three South African provinces. The study found that idealised influence and intellectual stimulation exert a positive impact on supply chain execution. Supply chain execution is positively linked to four supply chain performance factors, namely agility, reliability, cost optimisation and responsiveness.Transdisciplinary contribution: The study connects transformational leadership, which is an organisational behaviour construct to supply chain management, the latter of which is an emerging business discipline. The study recognises that business strategy is implemented by people whose conduct and practices are pivotal to strategic success. In addition, the study has an entrepreneurship orientation as it addresses the challenges facing manufacturing SMEs in South Africa.

The impact of corruption on SMEs’ access to finance: Evidence using firm-level survey data from developing countries

The present paper estimates the impact of bureaucratic corruption on access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sectors of 79 developing countries. Corruption can make it difficult for businesses to obtain financing by reducing profits, increasing credit demand, increasing the likelihood of bankruptcy, creating uncertainty about future profits, and exacerbating the asymmetric information problem between borrowers and lenders. Consistent with this viewpoint, our findings show that corruption significantly increases the likelihood of a manufacturing SME being financially constrained. A one standard deviation increase in the prevalence of corruption leads to a 3.5–4.9% point increase in the likelihood or probability of a manufacturing SME being financially constrained. In countries with credit bureaus and more freely functioning credit markets, the increase in the likelihood of being financially constrained due to higher corruption is much smaller. We argue and provide evidence that these heterogeneities stem from the specific ways in which corruption affects SMEs’ access to finance. Thus, the heterogeneities help to raise confidence against the omitted variable bias and reverse causality concerns with our estimation. We also find that higher corruption makes it more difficult for SMEs to access finance in more competitive product markets, as well as for small compared to medium-sized firms. The findings have important policy implications for anti-corruption initiatives, financial development, and the level of competition in product markets.

THE NEXUS BETWEEN RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PRACTICES AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OF NIGERIAN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES

This paper examined the relationships between recruitment and selection practices with business performance in the manufacturingsector using the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Lagos metropolis as the unit of analysis. It identified employee referral,job vacancy advertisement, employment agency and employee promotion as the most commonly used recruitment and selectionpractices in the manufacturing SMEs’ environment. The study made use of a questionnaire administered to 288 respondents and the results obtained showed that the vacancy advertisement and employment agency have a moderate relationship with business performance while employee promotion has a weak relationship with business performance while employee referral has a negative relationship with business performance. Regression results also indicated a positive relationship between combined recruitment and selection practices and business performance. It was concluded that the management of SMEs should prioritise employment agency among the recruitment and selection practices since it was found to have a more decisive influence on business performance. Thus, having the patronage of the employment agency with sound personnel policies that will be costeffective and outline human resource requirements is recommended.

An Analysis of Eco-Innovation Capabilities among Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia

The objective of this study is to look at how Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are applying eco-innovation capabilities in order to sustain their business performance. Eco-innovation capabilities are represented in this study by five different types of practices, with the indication of unexpected circumstances: eco-product innovation, eco-process innovation, eco-organisational innovation, eco-marketing innovation, and eco-technology innovation. The qualitative research approach was used in the study, and the content analysis was based on in-depth interviews with six top-level managers/owners of Malaysian manufacturing SMEs. According to the data, more than half of SMEs acquired eco-innovation capabilities in order to continue their business performance and thrive in the business sector, while having to confront certain hurdles due to unforeseen situations. According to the findings, eco-innovation capabilities encourage SMEs to engage in waste management, recycling or reusing resources, research and development, sustainable goods that utilize customer requests, and the use of environment management machines. Thus, the findings of this study may aid the efforts of government agencies, policymakers, and top-tier manufacturing SMEs in building an exceptional innovation platform on which SMEs may rely for assistance and support in preserving their business performance in the future and beyond.

Knowledge management: Implications to SMEs performance in Nigeria

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of knowledge management on firm’s performance in selected manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Nigeria.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The data is gathered from different manufacturing SMEs in Southeast Nigeria for this study. The sample size was 196 gathered from the population size of 800 selected manufacturing SMEs. The convenience sampling is used for the study. Descriptive statistics (frequency tables and percentages) was adopted for data presentation, however, Pearson correlation co-efficient along with regression analysis was applied for hypotheses testing.
 Results: The results exposed that there is an encouraging positive significant association between knowledge management along with SMEs performance. The outcome expressed that there is an encouraging significant relationship between the knowledge management dimensions (knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition in addition to knowledge protection) and firm performance dimensions (market share, sales growth as well as customer satisfaction).
 Conclusion: The study concluded that SMEs which acquire new knowledge tend to satisfy their customers more than those with outdated knowledge, and those who share knowledge with employees tend to gain larger market share than those who do not share with employees.
 Contribution to Literature: This study contributes to the existing literature in two ways: first, this utilized the knowledge management variables which were not utilized in previous studies. Second, this study decomposed firm performance by using three different indicators.

Kesan Orientasi Pengurusan Strategik Terhadap Kecekapan Firma Pembuatan Halal

High demand for halal products globally has contributed the rapid development of halal small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Halal Manufacturing Supply Chain Management (HSCM) has been adopted by SME as a dynamic action in improving firm performance (FP). However, the benefit of HSCM can not be fully achieved without effective strategic manufacturing management (SMM). Based on this concept, the relationships between SMM, HSCM, and FP have been debated. Hence, rigorous research is necessary to identify the factors and the implications of SMM towards HSCM and also FP as a whole. The primary objective of this research is to recognize the SMM practises applied in the halal manufacturing SME sectors. This research uses purposive sampling. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by Partial Least Square (PLS) technique has been employed in analysing the collected data. Market orientations were found to have a significant impact on business performance when applied to halal-certified SMEs. On the other hand, despite having statistically significant effects on business performance, supply chain orientation exerted a reduced influence. This study establishes a framework for halal practitioners to improve their business operations through the application of strategic orientation principles.

What drives responsible innovation in polluting small and medium enterprises?: an appraisal of leather manufacturing sector.

Responsible innovation (RI) has always been a major topic in discussions about environmental concerns, such as the depletion of natural resources, economic advancement, climate change, and social responsibility. Still, its incorporation in the business field is in its early stages, particularly among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This research aims to investigate the influence of internal and external drivers on RI and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). The hypotheses of the study are examined through the Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, and data were gathered from 291 owners/managers of leather manufacturing SMEs through simple random sampling. The study found that external drivers significantly and positively impact RI strategies, whereas internal drivers have an insignificant relationship with RI strategies. Furthermore, RI strategies have a significant and positive relationship with SCA. This study adds to the existing literature by focusing on predictors that impact SCA. This initial study examines the influence of external and internal drivers on RI and SCA using dynamic capability theory and institutional theory. On these bases, relevant recommendations have been made to promote RI from the perspective of the government and SMEs.

SMEs’ sustainable innovation performance during pandemic: impact of knowledge coupling and parallel-mediation of ambidexterity and market capitalising agility

ABSTRACT Covid-19 pandemic has caused crisis and uncertainty which adversely influenced innovation performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Innovation is a primary source of survival and growth in SMEs; therefore, this study aims to develop and empirically analyse conceptual model that sustains innovation performance of SMEs during the pandemic. This study integrates knowledge-based view (KBV) with a self-tuning model to examine Chinese manufacturing SMEs. Survey data of 306 responses were collected from the top and mid management and analysed through Smart-PLS 3. Results indicate a positive effect of knowledge coupling on innovation performance; besides, ambidexterity and market capitalising agility (MCA) positively mediate between knowledge coupling and SME innovation performance. This study contributes to KBV, self-tuning, strategy, innovation and crisis management literature. To practitioners, this study advises developing dynamic capabilities to sustain innovations during pandemic crisis. This is the earliest empirical examination to mediate the effect of knowledge coupling on innovation performance through ambidexterity and MCA during a crisis.

Sustaining innovation during downsizing strategy through knowledge coupling, business process digitization, and market capitalizing agility

COVID-19 has developed chaos and uncertainty for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) causing mass downsizing. Under such uncertainty, innovation is key to survival and agility to growth. This study examines role of knowledge coupling and business process digitization (BPD) in sustaining innovation through market capitalizing agility (MCA) besides downsizing strategy. Data have been collected from top and mid management of Chinese manufacturing SMEs and analyzed with knowledge-based view and self-tuning model through Smart-PLS 4. Knowledge coupling positively contributes to MCA and innovation irrespective of downsizing strategy. Effect of BPD on innovation performance is same; however, insignificant on MCA in no-downsizing sample. Likewise, MCA positively influences innovation performance and positively mediates between knowledge coupling (BPD) and innovation performance only during downsizing. This study is first of its kind to establish mediating effect of MCA between knowledge coupling (BPD) and innovation performance during downsizing phase and offers significant theoretical and practical implications. JEL Classification: J63, O31