ABSTRACT
All over the world, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered to be a key part of the economic fabric. Once limited to their domestic markets, they have been exposed to a globalized marketplace since the late 1990s, with more demanding customers and a fierce competition. This exposure has become a significant challenge to SMEs, given that most of them have limited resources and capabilities that frequently lack the ability to create and maintain a structured innovation management system. In that context, the paper performs a systematic literature review regarding the relationship between design thinking (DT), innovation, and competitiveness in SMEs. In total, 308 papers published between 1998 and 2021 were obtained after searching the Web of Science, and they were analyzed from the bibliometric and content perspective. Total seventy papers were obtained after applying all exclusion criteria. The results suggest the need to develop an innovation framework for SMEs, integrating DT processes and aligning with corporate strategy.
