Systematic and bibliometric analysis of the literature about marketing and SMEs since 1990: evolution, conceptual core and research fronts

The aim of this research is to paint a picture of SME marketing research based on a bibliometric analysis of published works on SME marketing published between 1990 and 2022. The results obtained from the analysis of 493 articles from 172 English and French language journals, extend and qualify the conclusions of the literature review on this subject proposed by Bocconcelli et al. (2018). The univariate analysis of bibliometric indicators shows, firstly, a sharp acceleration in the number of publications from 2006 onwards, and the growing participation since 2016 of management/management and entrepreneurship/SME journals. Second, the cocitations analysis shows that the theoretical core of this abundant literature lies on four main conceptual perspectives: market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial marketing and marketing capabilities. Third, the bibliographic coupling analysis reveals the existence of four major research fronts respectively dedicated to (i) the enrichment of work on marketing orientations, (ii) the pursuit of efforts to legitimize the concept of Entrepreneurial marketing, (iii) the increasing adoption of the marketing capabilities-based perspective and finally (iv) the emergence of digital marketing as distinct research avenue.