Aligning digital capability and entrepreneurial orientation for sustainable competitive advantage in F&B SMEs

Amid accelerating digitalization, food and beverage (F&B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face increasing challenges in sustaining competitive advantage. Although digital capability (DC) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) are widely recognized as strategic capabilities, their complementary roles remain underexplored. This study integrates the resource-based view and dynamic capability view to examine their effects on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). Survey data from 216 respondents representing 108 Indonesian F&B SMEs were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis (MGA). The results show that both DC and EO positively influence SCA. MGA reveals that the effect of DC differs across firm sizes, whereas EO remains relatively stable. Differences in stakeholder perspectives are also observed for EO but not for DC. These findings extend capability-based research by highlighting the complementary roles of DC and EO and provide practical and policy insights for strengthening SME competitiveness in emerging economies.