Building up virtual organisations

New chances through the formation of cooperative networks

Researchers:

Financed by:

ETH

The increasing globalisation of the market place and the improved spatial and temporal availability of information, as well as increased competition, have lead to a rapid change in clients needs. The repletion of the market, or the tendency to a buyer's market forces the company to react increasingly faster and more flexibly to those changing needs. Networks and virtual organisations promise mfore flexibility in such situations. The attractiveness of net-work organisations lies on the one hand in concentrating on specific abilities and on the other hand on a network that is as efficient as possible. Main resarch questions of the project:

Characteristics of the concept of virtual organisation from the point of view of the network trend.
Creation and formation of networks and virtual organisations; Role of trust and legal aspects.
Investigate the factors for success for the creation of a virtual organisation.

A generalised model is to be developed by the Institute for Industrial Engineering and Management (BWI) at ETH Zurich, using the practical application of an international business conglomerate of wood processors. This model is to be applicable to other companies and other industries. A final report about the results is planned to publish in 1999.