Title: Competitive domestic markets and marketing capabilities: the mediating effect of online presence in SMEs

Authors: Guillermo Barquero-Chaves; Juan Carlos Leiva; Ronald Mora-Esquivel

Addresses: School of Business Administration, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica ' School of Business Administration, Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica ' School of Business Administration, Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica

Abstract: Marketing capabilities are essential to exploit opportunities and sustain competitive advantages in domestic markets. It is therefore fundamental to identify elements affecting these capabilities. This research aims to verify if there is a positive relationship between competitive domestic markets and marketing capabilities, and whether online presence of companies exerts a mediating effect between both factors. The empirical analysis uses OLS regressions and a mimic of process method in Stata software package on a sample of 205 SMEs from Costa Rica. The findings confirm a positive relationship between competitive domestic markets and marketing capabilities, and that online presence exerts a mediating effect on this relationship, with a total effect of greater relevance for SMEs, especially in the manufacturing sector. This implies that as organisations adapt their resources and generate actions to promote the use and adoption of their online presence, they are also having a positive impact on their marketing capabilities.

Keywords: competitive domestic markets; online presence; marketing capabilities; SME; competitiveness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2025.143092

International Journal of Business Environment, 2025 Vol.16 No.1, pp.19 - 38

Received: 11 May 2023
Accepted: 22 Jun 2023
Published online: 03 Dec 2024 *