Achieving Strategic Business Objectives from Business Analytics in Small and Medium Enterprises

Enterprises use Business Analytics (BA) to achieve business value. Although SMEs significantly contribute to economic development and constitute a large proportion of enterprises, research into BA has been mostly conducted in large enterprises. Research on how SMEs can achieve their strategic business objectives with BA is scarce. In recent years, the interest in technological resources has rapidly expanded, as they are essential in achieving strategic business objectives for SMEs. BA is one type of technological resource that has gained increasing importance. However, there is a lack of understanding of the role BA can play in obtaining competitive advantages in the SME context. This research explores SMEs’ BA resources in 12 SME case studies. It provides a richer understanding of the role of BA resources in enabling SMEs to achieve their strategic business objectives and insight into how SMEs of different sizes can utilise BA resources to that end.