This study aims to develop four conceptual higher order models for assessing the causal relationship between the environmental turbulence (ET), sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), business model innovation (BMI), and sustainable performance (SP) of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The conceptual models were developed through literature review and tested with 91 entrepreneurs and managers from processed marine food product SMEs in Thailand. The higher order models were tested with partial least square structural equation modeling using seminr package in R. The results reveal that SCA mediates the relationship between BMI and SP. Further, the study found a serial mediation effect of BMI and SCA in the relationship between ET and SP. Thus, this study is novel in its approach of using ET as an antecedent and moderator and SCA as a mediator in assessing the relationship between BMI and SP. The study also found that the effects of ET are balanced when the SMEs incorporate BMI, which further leads to the achievement of SCA and SP. Thus, the findings extend an increasingly complex literature in the assessment of SCA’s role in SMEs’ SP. Further, the scale and the models can be used to assess how the SMEs respond to ET and modify their BMI to attain SCA and SP.