Entrepreneurial Training and MSME Performance: A Narrative Review of Competitiveness, Innovation, and Sustainability

Abstract

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.