Management and Development Process

Nowadays, activities of companies in the dynamic and turbulent environments are described by factors such as competitive intensity, unstable market conditions, rapidly changing technologies, and short product life cycle. Under such conditions, an effective strategy for launching a product into the market increases the survival chance of a company and improves its performance. The purpose of this study is to analyze the distinctive effect of product positioning on the dimensions of performance in small and medium-sized enterprises. The provided model was tested on a sample of 118 SMEs active in the city of Kerman by using structural equation. The present study is an applied and descriptive survey in nature. Also, a standard questionnaire was used for data collection. The validity of questionnaire was confirmed through the measurements of construct validity and confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of the instrument was measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The results of this study reveal direct effect of product positioning on customer satisfaction and costs of production and indirect impact of positioning on company profitability. Results also show that product distinction can lead to increased customer satisfaction and production costs.