Gergely Orosz wrote a fantastic piece on his blog: What Silicon Valley "Gets" about Software Engineers that Traditional Companies Do Not. In it, he makes the argument that traditional companies look at developers no different than factory workers, except they produce code instead of widgets. On the other hand, "Silicon Valley" companies expect their software engineers to solve big problems, and are therefore involved in discussions with people outside of engineering. Their ideas are also valued and can lead to big opportunities for the company.
One of the reasons I've worked in small companies for much of my career is getting to work with the business. When there are so few people in the IT team, there aren't the layers of bureaucratic "protection" between developers and the business.
On the other hand, there's a drawback to the small company development teams: they're stretched too thin. There's always more work to do than they can accomplish. It's a trade off, since small companies can't afford the big teams Silicon Valley companies can.