Virtual Enterprise Organization

Abstract

Competition among enterprises is changing. Initially competition was made between individual production systems. Now we are assisting to development of another kind of competition between production systems organized according to virtual enterprise (VE) concepts. This new focus is motivated by several aspects. The new global markets and the evolution of technologies and communications accomplished by the unpredictable consumer’s attitude may be pointed out as the most relevant. Understanding social, economical, and technological changes, and taking advantage of them, is the path that will allow production systems to sustain their competitiveness. In this path, enterprises must make radical modifications, both inside their boundaries and also in their relations with partners and competitors. Coordination of participants in new forms of organization, such as virtual enterprises, global manufacturing, and logistics networks, and other company-to-company alliances, has become functionally and strategically important (Gunasekaran, Williams, McGaughey, 2005). The definition of each participant function in the organization and overall information exchange have become key components in their manufacturing strategies.