Competitive Advantage in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Systematic Mapping Study

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is likely to have an advantage over competitors due to their strategic plans. Meanwhile, some of the strategic factors considered important to have a competitive advantage include human resource development, knowledge management, and Information and Communication Technology. They have been found to build and sustain a dominant position for rivals, but there is a need to consider the state of the art of competitive advantage by entrepreneurs or academics. Therefore, this study aimed to classify and identify scientific publications as well as to carry out a thematic review of recent literature to provide a comprehensive and thorough view of the competitive advantage in SMEs. This included the use of the Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) to review scientific articles related to competitive advantage depending on the focus, locus, and type of study. The results of this mapping are expected to contribute to both researchers and practitioners in determining the research focus gap and the next novelty of competitive advantage research. Thus, this study classified competitive advantage based on the overview of previous research topics and trends.