Entrepreneurial Training and MSME Performance: A Narrative Review of Competitiveness, Innovation, and Sustainability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67903/ijroms0255Keywords:
Competitiveness, Entrepreneurial Training, Innovation, MSME Performance, SustainabilityAbstract
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) depend heavily on the knowledge and decisions of owner-managers, yet evidence on entrepreneurial training reports uneven effects across programs and settings. This narrative review examined how entrepreneurial training influences MSME performance through competitiveness, innovation, and enterprise sustainability. Searches covered Google Scholar, Crossref Metadata Search, and the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository for English-language sources published from 2010 to 2026; seminal earlier works were retained for theory and construct definition. Search terms combined entrepreneurial or business training, MSME or microenterprise, performance, competitiveness, innovation, survival, sustainability, mentoring, and digital training. After duplicate removal and relevance screening, 41 full texts were assessed and 23 peer-reviewed works were retained for thematic synthesis. Priority was given to randomized and quasi-experimental studies, evidence reviews, and studies with transparent samples and outcome measures. Training more consistently improves business practices, financial and marketing capabilities, and entrepreneurial competencies than profits or sales. Stronger performance effects occur when content matches enterprise needs, emphasizes personal initiative or specialized marketing and finance skills, and is reinforced through mentoring, peer support, or follow-up. Innovation appears mainly through improved processes, market practices, and digital tools, while sustainability is reflected in survival, continuity, and adaptive capacity rather than environmental performance. Conflicting findings arise from short follow-up periods, underpowered samples, self-reported outcomes, participant selection, and differences in gender, sector, baseline capability, and delivery mode. Human Capital Theory explains skill accumulation, while the Resource-Based View explains how applied competencies become strategic firm resources. Entrepreneurial training is therefore a context-sensitive capability-building intervention, not a stand-alone universal solution.
References
Ahmad, N. H., Ramayah, T., Wilson, C., & Kummerow, L. (2010). Is entrepreneurial competency and business success relationship contingent upon business environment? A study of Malaysian SMEs. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 16(3), 182–203. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552551011042780
Al Mamun, A., Fazal, S. A., & Muniady, R. (2019). Entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, competencies and performance: A study of micro-enterprises in Kelantan, Malaysia. Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 13(1), 29–48. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJIE-11-2018-0067
Anderson, S. J., Chandy, R., & Zia, B. (2018). Pathways to profits: The impact of marketing vs. finance skills on business performance. Management Science, 64(12), 5559–5583. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2920
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108
Becker, G. S. (1993). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education (3rd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Brooks, W., Donovan, K., & Johnson, T. R. (2018). Mentors or teachers? Microenterprise training in Kenya. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(4), 196–221. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170042
Campos, F., Frese, M., Goldstein, M., Iacovone, L., Johnson, H. C., McKenzie, D., & Mensmann, M. (2017). Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa. Science, 357(6357), 1287–1290. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan5329
Capiña, M. V. (2021). Impact of management practices on micro and small enterprise (MSEs) performance in Marinduque, Philippines. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 1(1), 84–97. https://doi.org/10.31098/jsetp.v1i1.561
Dammert, A. C., & Nansamba, A. (2023). Skills training and business outcomes: Experimental evidence from Liberia. World Development, 162, 106120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106120
de Mel, S., McKenzie, D., & Woodruff, C. (2014). Business training and female enterprise start-up, growth, and dynamics: Experimental evidence from Sri Lanka. Journal of Development Economics, 106, 199–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.09.005
Department of Trade and Industry. (2022). MSME statistics. https://www.dti.gov.ph/resources/msme-statistics/
Estefan, A., Improta, M., Ordoñez, R., & Winters, P. (2024). Digital training for micro-entrepreneurs: Experimental evidence from Guatemala. The World Bank Economic Review, 38(2), 394–421. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhad029
Field, E., Jayachandran, S., Pande, R., & Rigol, N. (2016). Friendship at work: Can peer effects catalyze female entrepreneurship? American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8(2), 125–153. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20140215
Galvez, G. L., Badal, S. M. B., & Palmares, M. R. L. (2026). Entrepreneurial skills and competencies of small and medium enterprises (SMEs): Basis for the development of an entrepreneurial training program. Business Fora: Business and Allied Industries International Journal, 7(1), 64–76. https://doi.org/10.62718/vmca.bf-baiij.7.1.SC-0226-030
Higuchi, Y., Mhede, E. P., & Sonobe, T. (2019). Short- and medium-run impacts of management training: An experiment in Tanzania. World Development, 114, 220–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.10.002
Lafortune, J., Riutort, J., & Tessada, J. (2018). Role models or individual consulting: The impact of personalizing micro-entrepreneurship training. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(4), 222–245. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170077
Man, T. W. Y., Lau, T., & Chan, K. F. (2002). The competitiveness of small and medium enterprises: A conceptualization with focus on entrepreneurial competencies. Journal of Business Venturing, 17(2), 123–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(00)00058-6
Mano, Y., Iddrisu, A., Yoshino, Y., & Sonobe, T. (2012). How can micro and small enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa become more productive? The impacts of experimental basic managerial training. World Development, 40(3), 458–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.09.013
McKenzie, D. (2021). Small business training to improve management practices in developing countries: Re-assessing the evidence for “training doesn't work.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 37(2), 276–301. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grab002
McKenzie, D., & Puerto, S. (2021). Growing markets through business training for female entrepreneurs: A market-level randomized experiment in Kenya. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 13(2), 297–332. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180340
McKenzie, D., & Woodruff, C. (2014). What are we learning from business training and entrepreneurship evaluations around the developing world? The World Bank Research Observer, 29(1), 48–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkt007
McKenzie, D., & Woodruff, C. (2017). Business practices in small firms in developing countries. Management Science, 63(9), 2967–2981. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2492
Soomro, R. B., Memon, S. G., & Soomro, M. (2025). Impact of entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and competencies on MSME performance: Evidence from a developing country. Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 19(1), 42–72. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJIE-04-2023-0071
Ubfal, D., Arráiz, I., Beuermann, D. W., Frese, M., Maffioli, A., & Verch, D. (2022). The impact of soft-skills training for entrepreneurs in Jamaica. World Development, 152, 105787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105787
Valdivia, M. (2015). Business training plus for female entrepreneurship? Short- and medium-term experimental evidence from Peru. Journal of Development Economics, 113, 33–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.10.005
World Bank. (2019). Philippines: Assessing the effectiveness of MSME and entrepreneurship support. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documentsreports/documentdetail/853041563828559514
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Research on Multidisciplinary Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
