Leveraging Business Analytics Capabilities for SMEs' Competitiveness: A Conceptual Framework

HRMARS - This research develops and empirically tests an integrated framework to explain how business analytics capabilities enhance the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through strategic agility. Business analytics capabilities are defined as a multidimensional construct encompassing tangible resources, intangible resources, and human skills, while strategic agility is delineated as customer, partner, and operational agility. Drawing on the Resource-Based View and dynamic capabilities theory, the study posits that competitive advantage arises not only from the possession of analytics-related resources but also from their transformation into agile strategic responses. Human skills facilitate the effective deployment of analytics assets, and strategic agility enables firms to translate analytical insights into improvements oriented toward customers, partners, and operations. A quantitative research design was employed, utilizing cross-sectional survey data from 1,031 Jordanian industrial SMEs. The proposed framework was evaluated using Smart PLS 3.3.3 structural equation modeling. The results provide a theoretical foundation for understanding variations in SME competitiveness and offer actionable recommendations for enhancing resilience, responsiveness, and sustained competitiveness in dynamic environments. The study offers guidance to SME owners, managers, and policymakers on strengthening analytics capabilities, improving decision-making, and fostering strategic adaptability to support competitiveness.