European Journal of Studies in Management and Business

In this study, the competitiveness development model of food SMEs in entrepreneurial market has been developed. Dynamic capabilities perspective and international entrepreneurship theory were used to theorize. The present study is one of the few studies carried out to find a model for developing the competitiveness of SMEs from the dynamic capabilities perspective. Twenty food-industries managers and experts in food sector were interviewed. The systematic approach presented by Strauss and Corbin (1998) was used to analyze the interviews. The competitiveness development model consists of the causal conditions, the intervening conditions, the contextual conditions, the export strategies of food exporting SMEs and the consequences. The model identifies dynamic capabilities that lead to competitiveness and suggest the path to building such capabilities. Implications of findings are discussed at organizational-level and institutional-level.