Global strategies for SMe‐business: applying the SMALL framework

The World Wide Web (WWW) offers exciting new opportunities for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to extend their customer base into the global marketplace. However, in order to exploit these advantages in a global strategy, the SME needs to adopt an entirely different approach to strategic planning and management which can enable it to deploy an extensive infrastructure network based on shared resources with other firms. This paper presents a framework for the analysis and design of global strategies within the organisational context of SMEs using Internet‐based information technologies. Central to the framework – SMALL – is the transformation of the key attributes of an SME environment through a virtual organising perspective. The framework is supported by a number of case examples of SMEs operating in a global context and a detailed analysis of three Australian SMEs. It provides a new perspective to strategies for e‐business in SMEs and to e‐business research.