Unraveling the Linkages: Network Business Skills, Marketing Flexibility, and Competitive Advantage of SMEs

This study examines the impact of network business skills on the competitive advantage of Chinese small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) through the lens of marketing flexibility. Drawing on dynamic capability theory and organizational learning theory, this study constructs a conceptual model integrating network business skills, marketing flexibility, and competitive advantage. Additionally, this study introduces market learning and market competition as moderating variables to analyze their influence on the relationship between network business skills and marketing flexibility. Employing a questionnaire survey among 519 SMEs, this study conducts descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis using SPSS 27.0. Our findings reveal that network business skills positively impact marketing flexibility and competitive advantage. Marketing flexibility fully mediates the relationship between network business skills and competitive advantage. Market learning positively moderates this relationship, while market competition negatively moderates it. These findings contribute to our understanding of how SMEs can leverage network business skills to enhance their competitive advantage in the digital era.