Partnering as a resource: business relationships and changes in SMEs' international sales organization and processes

The paper analyses the changes in SMEs’ sales organization and processes as they expand internationally through the development of more and more intense and interdependent business relationships with other companies. A case study of a business relationship between a small company and a large business group in the Italian mechanical industry is described over a period of about thirty years in order to understand main changes in the small company’ sales organization and processes as it has become increasingly integrated with the largest business group and the main forces sub-standing the observed dynamics. The paper thus enters into the changes within the inter-organizational processes and into the interplay between inter and intra-organizational issues, especially in respect to specific areas such as sales and marketing.