The Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs) with Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management and Innovative Intelligence: Building a Conceptual Framework

This paper presents the current state of ongoing research on intellectual capital of SMEs. Sustainable competitive advantage is very important if SMEs are to survive and thrive in a globally competitive environment where uncertainty and ambiguity are the norm. Business sustainability makes firms resilient so they are better able to adapt to change. It is said that SMEs are vulnerable and not robust enough to withstand the onslaught of the economic and global competition. Entrepreneurship is more than resources and capabilities. It is about exploiting opportunity through its resources and capabilities to be innovative and creating value. Knowledge is one of the resources that when managed properly and intelligently, can turn into innovation that can help the SMEs to gain sustainable competitive advantage. The paper focuses on the questions: Why SMEs are lacking in sustainable competitive advantage? and How sustainable competitive advantage can be achieved through intellectual capital, knowledge management and innovation intelligence in SMEs? The purpose of the study is to construct a conceptual framework of Sustainable Competitive Advantage through knowledge management and innovation intelligence for SMEs.