In industrialized countries, the organization of production is based on complex relationships between large manufacturers and small-scale suppliers. In developing countries, by contrast, large firms prefer to import or to produce in-house rather than to source from domestic firms. Because of increasing competitive pressure, however, the industrial structure in developing countries will have to shift towards similar patterns of inter-firm division of labour. SME policies should therefore place more emphasis on the promotion of linkages with large firms, mainly those involving some kind of technology transfer. This article provides a survey and discussion of the international policy experiences in this field.