TITLE:
Cloud Computing and Competitive Advantage in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). A Review Paper
AUTHORS:
Mwenda Johnstone Gichuru, James Muranga Njihia, James Thuo Kariuki
KEYWORDS:
Cloud Computing Model, SMEs, Competitiveness, Business Environment
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Service Science and Management,
Vol.19 No.5,
October
28,
2026
ABSTRACT: Cloud computing was designed for convenience, agility, scalability, cost-effectiveness and business efficiency in businesses. SMEs might no longer own on-site computing resources since they are provisioned by third party providers. Cloud computing model has: firstly, five essential characteristics; on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measured service; secondly, three main service models; Software as a service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service, and; thirdly, deployment models; private, community, public and hybrid clouds. The cloud’s metered services minimize SMEs’ expenses and the time-related constraints, mainly at start-up. Cloud’s elasticity enables rapid scaling of resources as SMEs grow and provide competitive advantage in dynamic, turbulent business environment. The study established a conceptual model that shows the relationship between cloud computing capabilities, SME characteristics, business environment, management decision-making processes and the competitive advantage of the SMEs. This study’s theoretical framework was anchored on; resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory, innovation configuration theory and technology destiny theory. The study’s findings will enrich the IS research knowledge, may be applied by researcher’s and business practitioners.