B2B sales of German Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Challenges in cross-border sales within the context of German-French business relationships

Yves Scheffler

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For decades Germany and France have been forming the core of the European Union. They generate about 40 per cent of total economi...

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For decades Germany and France have been forming the core of the European Union. They generate about 40 per cent of total economic output in the Euro Zone. Nowhere else, there does exist such an intense relationship between neighbouring economies like between these two countries. Those links go far beyond external trade relations and are targeted towards mutual business cooperation. In the light of globalisation, a rising number of competitors, increasing customer demands and short product life cycles, cross-national commerce are of great importance for German Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) - particularly in the B2B sector. Sales is often tagged as an enterprise's figurehead. It is responsible for determining whether a manufacturer effectively conveys its capabilities to the B2B customer. To date, there exists no single reference book covering all four topics of this paper's headline: B2B, SMEs, sales and Franco-German business relationships. The ongoing literature is mainly focussed on large firms. The subject of international sales has hardly been investigated, yet. Apart from the sales excellence approach, there are few selling models for corporate practice. The lack of sales expertise both in theory and practise is thus not the ideal prerequisite for succeeding on a cross-border scale. This study addresses sales challenges of German SMEs with its trading partner France in the B2B sector. It should be stressed that the focus is on SMEs from Germany only. The company size of French business partners does not play a role in this context. The acquisition-related part of sales (selling) is highlighted while the physical component (distribution) is secondary within the framework of this assignment. In consequence, the central question is to figure out what kind of challenges German SMEs must face when exerting B2B sales activities in France. A related sub-issue is defined as follows: "Which type of challenge has the greatest impact on cross-border sales operations in France?" The declared purpose of this study is to answer the above-mentioned queries. Following the acquired basic knowledge this is done through an empirical survey. Furthermore, it is targeted to provide recommendations in order to enhance sales efficiency and effectiveness of German SMEs.