Purpose

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of emerging economies play a key role in driving a country’s economic development. Business-to-business (B2B) SMEs of emerging economies play a key role in driving a country’s economic development. Past researchers have recognized that such impacts are simply magnified by B2B entrepreneurs. However, the performance of B2B SMEs and the contributory factors behind such performance has got limited attention. This study aims to explore factors impacting the performance of B2B SMEs of emerging economies as viewed by SME owner-manager.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, we have taken Indian B2B SMEs as our focal point of study. Primary data has been collected from the owner-manager of auto component SMEs of India. This study has examined direct and indirect (mediating) effects of predictors on outcome variables. In this study, structural equation modelling was used through AMOS 22 and the default method-maximum likelihood for estimating the model.

Findings

The result shows that entrepreneurial orientation (EO), growth orientation (GO) and market orientation (MO) directly impact the performance of B2B SMEs. It also reveals that brand orientation (BO) mediates the relationship between EO, GO and MO and performance for B2B SMEs. The result advocates that for B2B SMEs operating in emerging economies, being brand-oriented is a prominent strategic move for sustainable performance.

Originality/value

The current empirical research to bridge the research gap in the context of B2B SMEs from emerging economies by exploring important factors, propose their impact on the performance of B2B SMEs and empirically test those hypothesized relationships. This study deciphers that being brand-oriented impacts the entrepreneurial spirit, growth objectives and market readiness of the B2B SMEs and, in turn, influences the performance of B2B SMEs. The study advocates that B2B SMEs from emerging economies should adopt a BO approach and they should invest in the brand-building process.

中文翻译：

---

影响新兴经济体 B2B 中小企业绩效的因素：业主经理的观点

目的

新兴经济体的中小企业（SMEs）在推动国家经济发展方面发挥着关键作用。新兴经济体的企业对企业 (B2B) 中小企业在推动国家经济发展方面发挥着关键作用。过去的研究人员已经认识到，这种影响会被 B2B 企业家放大。然而，B2B 中小企业的表现及其背后的影响因素却很少受到关注。本研究旨在探讨影响新兴经济体 B2B 中小企业绩效的因素，如中小企业所有者经理所见。

设计/方法/方法

在本研究中，我们将印度 B2B 中小企业作为我们的研究重点。主要数据是从印度汽车零部件中小企业的所有者经理那里收集的。本研究检验了预测变量对结果变量的直接和间接（中介）影响。在这项研究中，通过 AMOS 22 使用结构方程建模和默认方法 - 最大似然来估计模型。

发现

结果表明，创业导向 (EO)、成长导向 (GO) 和市场导向 (MO) 直接影响 B2B 中小企业的绩效。它还揭示了品牌定位 (BO) 调节了 EO、GO 和 MO 之间的关系以及 B2B 中小企业的绩效。结果表明，对于在新兴经济体运营的 B2B 中小企业而言，以品牌为导向是实现可持续绩效的突出战略举措。

原创性/价值

当前的实证研究通过探索重要因素来弥合新兴经济体 B2B 中小企业背景下的研究差距，提出它们对 B2B 中小企业绩效的影响，并实证检验这些假设的关系。本研究表明，品牌导向会影响 B2B 中小企业的创业精神、增长目标和市场准备情况，进而影响 B2B 中小企业的业绩。该研究主张新兴经济体的 B2B 中小企业应采用 BO 方法，并应投资于品牌建设过程。