Driving SME Competitiveness in a Dynamic Business Landscape – Leveraging an IT Capability Mindset

The criticality of SMEs to the recovery and stability of world economies is para mount. Yet, growing and sustaining competitiveness in a business landscape characterised by dynamic market forces is undoubtedly challenging. Nonetheless, the increasing pervasiveness of globali z ation and ICT diffusion and innovation over the past decade, and the resulting changes in how companies now need to operate, have paved the way for smaller, more agile enterprises to compete with well established organi z ations. A more level playing field has emerged, with some individuals arguing that SMEs are now b etter positioned to gain maximum benefit from recent technological advances due to their greater agility comparative to that of larger organi z ations. However, technology in itself is not sufficient to acquire a competitive edge in today’s dynamic markets. Hence, how can SMEs turn the potential benefits of recent technological advances into a sustainable competitive advantage? Or, to put it another way, how can “the business” derive continuous and sustainable value from ICT in order to support and enhance it s competitive position in the marketplace? The answer lies in the SMEs’ adoption of a capability mindset, which recognises that sustainable competitive advantage is dependent not on technology itself, but rather on the creation of distinct and inimitable I T capabilities that differentiate a company from its competitors. This white paper explores the benefits of adopting an IT capability mindset for SMEs as a key enabler of business competitiveness and growth. The paper further introduces the SME IT - Capabili ty Maturity Framework (SME IT - CMF) to support SMEs in embarking on a capability improvement journe