The “Head office” had 3 guys, and the “Supply Chain team” had one person (and me helping out). That’s it. Everything else was outsourced.
The designers were freelancers, paid by accepted product design.
Online catalogue? Again, freelancers built it, and the head office team was updating the products and answered queries.
The sales agents, as you would guess already, were commission based. This allowed for rapid expansion, as the company did not have a need to open branches all over the world.
The job of the Supply Chain team was to process all the orders and forward them to the manufacturers. They had the designs and the prices were agreed upon. Once the product is ready, it would be shipped straight to the end user or shop that placed the order. The end user would pay for the shipping and customs. We were as well responsible for the quality, and my colleague had to frequently travel to the plants and do spot checks of the product.