CONCLUSION

Starting from two cases study in the steelwork fabricator industry, it has been argued that small size firms can be competitive in public works tenders as front line partners and not only as second line mere executors. The interpretation has tried to highlight the main features of the competitive strategy carried out. The key point has been identified in the control of two sets of skills: first, the technical ones that relate to the some specific production process; second, the ability of connecting them to the client’s needs through a process of co-design - the strategic intermediation function. Thanks to this ability of managing information, the two companies have introduced innovation to improve performance and/or to reduce overall costs for the works they were involved in, winning the tenders they participated in. Such a firm strategy is tightly connected with the client procurement strategy. Only in the case the client issues an invitation to tender on the basis of an open design asking for an active contribution by all the actors involved in the construction process, can this strategy be successfully implemented. The focus of the analysis shifts from high production volumes to the ability to create high value added through the management of information. Further research is then needed to understand the relevance of this phenomenon in other submarkets of the construction industry.