Proposed Model Relating Smart City Characteristics and Territorial Business Competitiveness in the Lenses of Business Owners in Lipa City

This study explored the effect of smart city characteristics on territorial business competitiveness using descriptive-correlational research design. The objective of the study is to assess the level of manifestation of smart city and territorial business competitiveness of Lipa City among respondents, derive constructs and to come up with a model relating the two variables. A survey questionnaire was administered among 375 business owners from Lipa City. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to derived constructs from the two variables. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to investigate the effects of the determinants of territorial business competitiveness. Two constructs emerged from smart city characteristics and four from territorial business competitiveness. Smart city has the following characteristics: smart governance and smart environment. Meanwhile, territorial business competitiveness has the following dimensions: innovativeness, resource-efficient environment, enterprise-friendly policies and government support. The result of the SEM indicates that smart governance significantly influences innovativeness, resource-efficient resources, enterprise-friendly policies and government support. Meanwhile, smart environment significantly affects innovativeness and resource-efficient environment.