Designing a Framework for Enhancing Resilience in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Umbrella Review

This study examines how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can strengthen their resilience in turbulent environments characterized by economic instability, political uncertainty, and external shocks, with particular relevance to contexts such as Iran. Despite extensive scholarly attention, the literature on SME resilience remains fragmented, lacking an integrated and operational framework. Addressing this gap, the study seeks to identify the key determinants and underlying mechanisms of SME resilience and to consolidate them into a coherent conceptual model capable of informing both managerial practice and policymaking. To achieve this, an applied, qualitative research design based on an umbrella review was adopted, enabling the systematic aggregation and synthesis of prior review studies. Following PRISMA guidelines, relevant articles were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science databases, limited to Q1 and Q2 journals published between January 2021 and August 2025, resulting in a final sample of 20 review studies. Thematic synthesis was employed to analyze the data through inductive coding, the development of descriptive themes, and the abstraction of higher-order analytical themes. The findings converge on a seven-dimensional framework encompassing digital transformation, operational excellence and capability development, communication and stakeholder relationship management, strategic management, resource management, risk management and business continuity, and innovation and entrepreneurship. These dimensions are not discrete but dynamically interdependent, collectively shaping resilience through continuous interaction among technological, operational, relational, strategic, resource, risk, and innovation capabilities. The study demonstrates that SME resilience is inherently multidimensional and cannot be effectively achieved through isolated or single-focus strategies. By offering an integrated and practice-oriented framework, this research contributes to bridging the gap between theory and application, while also highlighting the need for future empirical validation in context-specific and high-risk environments.