Information infrastructure for electronic virtual organization management

In this paper we present a proposed information infrastructure framework for supporting management of electronic virtual organizations. We identify the life cycle phases (and their associated decision processes) of virtual organizations, describe the requirements for an information infrastructure to support the management of virtual organizations throughout their life cycle, and discuss how Inter/Intranet technologies provide the mechanisms required for virtual organization management. The importance of information infrastructure to virtual organization management is illustrated through a set of simulations that compare performance of traditional static (stable partnership) supply chains and dynamic (virtual) supply chains utilizing a dynamic material allocation (DMA) strategy to respond to environmental change. Our overall conclusion is that an information infrastructure, utilizing Internet and Intranet technology, can support the communication required for effective virtual organization management throughout its life cycle. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.