The Virtual Enterprise

In this chapter, the concept of the virtual enterprise is developed. A motivating case at the beginning points to dilemma that acting manufacturing managers are facing. For the conditions of unpredictable change and dynamic markets the concept of the virtual enterprise is characterized, first, as a business model to create business value, second, as an operational model to co-operate temporarily and third, as an organizational model of restructuring. The concept of the virtual enterprise, then, is structured in three elements that form a coupled system, first, the business value that drives the change, second, the virtual operation that is temporarily configured to capture the value, and finally the network, that provides the platform for rapid restructuring. Contemporary manufacturing practices are placed in the context of the virtual enterprise to synthesize the development towards the enterprise of the global information society.