Driving Marketing Performance Through Innovation and Differentiation: The Mediating Role of Technological Capability in Small Metal Firms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21512/bbr.v17i2.14477Keywords:
innovation, differentation, service quality, technological capability, marketing performanceAbstract
Small firms in traditional manufacturing industries face significant resource constraints that undermine the direct translation of innovation and differentiation strategies into marketing performance, thereby requiring technological capability as a supporting mechanism in the proposed model. Although prior studies emphasize innovation, service quality, and differentiation, the mechanism linking these orientations to performance remains underexplored, particularly in small industrial firms. The research investigates how technological capability mediates the effects of product innovation, service quality, and differentiation on marketing performance in small metal firms. The novelty lies in technological capability as an enabling mechanism that amplifies the impact of product innovation and differentiation in traditional metal manufacturing contexts. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), the proposed model explains how small firms reconfigure limited resources through technological capability. Using purposive sampling, data from 150 small metal firms are analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with a reflective measurement model. The results show that product innovation, differentiation, and technological capability significantly improve marketing performance, whereas service quality does not. Technological capability mediates the effects of product innovation and differentiation but not service quality, underscoring its central role in resource-constrained manufacturing settings. The research advances a capability-based mediation framework, offering a clearer explanation of how strategic initiatives translate into marketing performance without generalizing findings to medium-sized firms or broader Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sustainability contexts.
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