Communities
Since 1999 the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and Society of Collaborative Networks (SOCOLNET) sponsored an annual conference called the Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises (PRO-VE).
Over the last couple of decades, we have seen a major shift from an industrial economy to that of an information economy. This led to new technology to help capitalise on the information economy. Virtual enterprises allow businesses to specialize and be flexible within their environments. This business model had been applied to outsourcing and supply chains, as well as temporary consortia. Because the formation of virtual enterprises is an intricate process, a new form of technological support has been developed. The most ambitious of the support systems actually intends to automate part of the creation process, as well as the operation of these enterprises. A comprehensive overview of the state of the art, methods and tools can be found in Camarinha-Matos et al. (2008).
The strategic guideline of virtual enterprise, where the objective is to sell goods rather than services, is the Electronic Commerce Model, which is made up of three factors: content, community, and commercialisation. The first two factors, content and community, are used to attract web surfers to a website for the first time, and then to keep them coming back. The third factor, commercialisation, is extremely important in determining the success of the virtual enterprise. After the content and community have been established, the virtual enterprise must use commercialisation techniques to come up with ways to earn a profit. The implementation of the three elements of the Electronic Commerce Model greatly influences the operational performance of a virtual enterprise.
As with all types of enterprises, virtual enterprises present both benefits and challenges. Benefits include more economical connections with suppliers, greater opportunities to create revenue, more efficient operations, and a reduction in administrative costs. Challenges facing virtual enterprises are: inexperienced users, security, expense control, and the level of incorporation required to create a successful virtual enterprise.
Examples of virtual enterprises on the Internet included Virtual Music Enterprises (from about 2004 through 2010) and Virtual Enterprise California which is part of the Virtual Enterprises, International educational group.
Read more about this topic: Virtual Enterprise
Famous quotes containing the word communities:
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