Adaptation of Business Processes in Smes: an Interpretive Study

Small and medium enterprises contribute significantly to an economy. With the growth of Internet and related communication technologies, many small and medium enterprises are trying to integrate their strategies and business processes with other firms in the supply chain. The goal of this book is to study the adaptation of a small/medium enterprise to changes in the environment. Specifically, adaptation of internal business processes within the small/medium enterprise embedded in a manufacturing supply chain is studied. A case study method was used within a grounded theory framework so that the continuous interplay between data collection and analysis of each phase helps inductive theory discovery. The findings suggest that while the SME actively adapts their internal processes, it also seeks to minimize dependence on a few large customers by diversifying customer base. This process increases costs to the SME, thus this study explored why the SME strived for a diversified customer base. The SME, which is the subject study, used Long Term Agreements with its key partners.