This study assessed the exclusive relationship of organisational capabilities, managerial competencies, and competitive advantage within the Malaysian context based on a sample of 330 SMEs in the food processing industry. This study employed a structural equation modelling using AMOS for the testing of the moderating role of managerial competencies in the relationship between organisational capabilities and competitive advantage. The obtained results of fitness indices demonstrated satisfactory goodness-of-fit. The results of hypotheses testing revealed that (1) the relationship between organisational capabilities and competitive advantage was statistically significant and positive (where organisational capabilities accounted for 93% of the total variance in competitive advantage) and (2) managerial competencies fully mediate the relationship between organisational capabilities and competitive advantage. Most importantly, this study provided empirical evidence that supported the theory of resource-based view, theory of dynamic capability view, and theory of knowledge-based view on the significance of organisational capabilities and managerial competencies for SMEs to gain competitive advantage, especially in marketing their products in hypermarkets and penetrating the global markets.
Abban, R., Omta, S. W. F. (Onno), Aheto, J. B. K., & Scholten, V. E. (2013). Connecting the dots: A multiple case study of the network relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the non-traditional agricultural export (NTAE). African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 4(1), 74–94.
Abdullah, N. C., & Mustapha, R. (2009). Kajian kes usahawan tani Industri Kecil Sederhana (IKS) Bumiputera di negeri Terengganu (A case study of SMI Bumiputera agropreneurs in Terengganu ). Jurnal Pendidikan Malaysia, 34(2), 143–165.
Abou-Moghli, A. A., Abdallah, G. M. Al, & Muala, A. Al. (2012). Impact of innovation on realizing competitive advantage in banking sector in Jordan. American Academic & Scholarly Research Journal, 4(5).
Ambrosini, V. (2003). How the resource-based and the dynamic capability views of the firm inform corporate-level strategy. British Journal of Management., 14(4), 289–303.
Arshad, A. S., Rasli, A., Arshad, A. A., & Zain, Z. M. (2014). The impact of entrepreneurial orientation on business performance: A study of technology-based SMEs in Malaysia. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 130, 46–53.
Aziz, N. N. A., & Samad, S. (2016a). Innovation and competitive advantage: moderating effects of firm age in foods manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia. Procedia Economics and Finance, 35(October 2015), 256–266.
Aziz, N. N. A., & Samad, S. (2016b). The influence of innovation and financial stability on the competitive advantage of Malaysian SMEs. In Terengganu International Business and Economics Conference 2016 (TiBÉC V) (pp. 163–177).
Aziz, N. N. A., Wahid, N., & Halim, R. (2017). Networking and innovation performance in micro-enterprise in Malaysia. Advanced Science Letters, 23(8), 7374–7377.
de Oliveira, A. C., Sokulski, C. C., da Silva Batista, A. A., & de Francisco, A. C. (2018). Competencies for sustainability: A proposed method for the analysis of their interrelationships. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 14, 82–94.
Eltamimi, A. (2013). Absorbtive capacity, commitment and internalization: Implications for SMEs’ performance in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Nova Southeastern University.
Eravia, D., & Handayani, T. (2015). The opportunities and threats of small and medium enterprises in Pekanbaru : Comparison between SMEs in Food and restaurant industries. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 169(August 2014), 88–97.
Fletcher, R., & Fang, T. (2006). Assessing the impact of culture on relationship creation and network formation in emerging Asian markets. European Journal of Marketing, 40(3/4), 430–446.
Hair Jr, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European Business Review, 26(2), 106–121.
Hamdani, J., & Wirawan, C. (2012). Open innovation implementation to sustain Indonesian SMEs. Procedia Economics and Finance, 4(Icsmed), 223–233.
Haniff, S. Bin, & Halim, M. S. Bin. (2014). Marketing capabilities and performance of SMEs in food and beverages industry in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research, 6(1), 187–195.
Hassan, T. M. R. T., Yaacob, M. R., & Abdullatiff, N. K. (2014). Sustaining SMEs wood-based product manufacturing through best practices – The case of indigenous entrepreneurs in Kelantan. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 115(Iicies 2013), 221–234.
Hsiao, Y. C., & Hsu, Z. X. (2018). Firm-specific advantages-product innovation capability complementarities and innovation success: A core competency approach. Technology in Society, 55(July), 78–84.
Husin, M. A., & Ibrahim, M. D. (2014). The role of accounting services and impact on small medium enterprises (SMEs) performance in manufacturing sector from East Coast Region of Malaysia: A Conceptual Paper. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 115(Iicies 2013), 54–67.
Ismail, M. D., Domil, A. K. A., & Isa, A. M. (2014). Managerial competence, relationship quality and competitive advantag
In-Text Citation: (Aziz, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Aziz, N. N. A. (2019). Organisational Capabilities and Competitive Advantage: The Moderating Influence of Managerial Competencies. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(2), 782–794.
Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode