Navigating the Future: Digital Market Positioning as a Strategic Driver of Sustainable Growth among Small and Micro Youth-Led Enterprises in Global Economies: A Narrative Review

This narrative review examines how digital market positioning influences the sustainable growth of small and micro youth-led enterprises in global economies, synthesising evidence published between 2015 and 2026. The period reflects a significant phase of digital transformation characterised by the expansion of platform-based entrepreneurship, increased smartphone penetration, and the integration of advanced digital marketing tools, including analytics and artificial intelligence, into small enterprise operations. The study draws on multidisciplinary literature from entrepreneurship, strategic management, digital marketing, and innovation studies to develop an integrated understanding of how digital strategies shape enterprise outcomes in resource-constrained contexts. The review identifies five interrelated themes: digital visibility and market reach expansion, brand differentiation and competitive advantage, customer engagement and relationship building, cost-effective market access and resource efficiency, and data-driven decision making and strategic adaptability. Across diverse regions, including Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, the findings show that digital market positioning enables youth-led enterprises to overcome structural barriers such as limited capital, weak infrastructure, and restricted market access. However, the effectiveness of these strategies varies depending on digital literacy, infrastructural development, and ecosystem maturity, resulting in uneven growth outcomes across contexts. The review is grounded in the Resource-Based View, Dynamic Capabilities Theory, and Diffusion of Innovation Theory, which collectively explain how digital resources, adaptive capabilities, and technology adoption processes interact to shape sustainable enterprise performance. Methodologically, a narrative review approach was adopted to allow for flexible synthesis and conceptual integration of heterogeneous studies rather than statistical aggregation. The study concludes that digital market positioning is a critical strategic driver of sustainable growth for small and micro youth-led enterprises, but its impact is contingent upon the effective integration of digital skills, infrastructure, and adaptive capabilities within entrepreneurial ecosystems.