Explanatory factors of competitive success. An empirical study on the SME

The identification of the source of competitiveness, apart from a controversial subject, is a topic to which researchers, consultants and executives devote great efforts. The fact that most studies are focused on macroeconomic levels or on the big company has led us to focus this paper on identifying, on the basis of the existing literature, the factors of competitive success in the SME. After analysing how to measure the competitive success, an empirical study has been carried out with a sample of 473 SMEs of the Region of Murcia (Spain) in order to determine the factors explaining the success of SMEs. The results of the study partially confirms those found in the literature. This study presents interesting conclusions regarding the factors explaining success in SMEs that can be also useful for further research into this topic