SMEs internationalization: The role of product innovation, market intelligence, pricing and marketing communication capabilities as drivers of SMEs' international performance

Small and medium enterprise (SME) competitive advantage has been recognized as an important topic for researchers dealing with SME internationalization. Previous studies have long discussed the role of firm competitive advantage as a determinant of international performance, but there are few studies analyzing the determinants of firm competitive advantage and its potential mediating role in the relationship between organizational capabilities and SMEs' international performance. In this paper, we hypothesize four essential export capabilities (market intelligence, product innovation, pricing, and marketing communication) as determinants of competitive advantage for exporting SMEs. Based on a sample of 119 active exporting Malaysian SMEs and using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling, the results revealed that three of the mentioned capabilities lead to competitive advantage. In addition, results indicated that competitive advantage only acts as a mediator between pricing capability and SMEs' international performance. The main conclusions of this investigation can be valuable to SMEs and startups that intend to explore or exploit opportunities in foreign markets.