institut d`administration des entreprises virtual enterprise
Contents
1. SCOTT MORTON M S L entreprise comp titive au futur Les dition d organisation 1995 SFEZ L Information savoir et communication Conf rence au congr s AFCET Versailles Octobre 1994 SIMON H A Administrative Behavior The Free Press 1947 SIMON H A TheM ode of Bounded Rationality Tomell Cambridge Mass The MIT Press 1982 SIMON H A The Sciences of Artificial Cambridge M ass The MIT Press 1981 THORELLI Hans B Networks Between Markets and Hierarchies Strategic M anagement Journal Vol 7 1986 p 37 51 UPTON D M amp MCAFFEE A The Real Virtual Factory H arvard Business Review July August 1996 VENKATRAMAN N Reconfigurations d entreprises provoqu es par les technologies de l information dans SCOTT MORTON M S 1995 p 161 WILLIAMSON O E M arkets and hierarchies Analysis and Antitrust Implications Free Press 1975 R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 162. 1996 R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 14 LACOSTE M Apprentissage en collectif Langage e Travail cahier n 3 juillet 1992 LE MOIGNE J L Informer la d cision ou d cider de l information N ote de recherche du GRA SCE Facult d Economie A ppliqu e d Aix M arseille 1979 LE MOIGNE J L Vers un syst me d information organisationnel Revue Francaise de Gestion novembre d cembre 1986 LE MOIGNE J L La mod lisation des syst mes complexes Dunod 1990 LE MOIGNE J L La th orie du syst me g n ral Presse Universitaire de France 1990 LESCA H Pour un management strat gique de l information Revue Fran aise de Gestion septembre octobre 1992 MACHLUP F Economie des connaissances et de l information R seaux n 58 CENT 1993 MALLET J L entreprise apprenante Tomel l action productrice de sens J Universit de Provence Aix en Provence 1996 MARCH J G amp FELDMAN M S L information dans les organisations un signal et un symbole dans MARCH J G D cisions et organisations Les Editions d Organisation 1991 chapitre n 10 MARCH J G amp SHAPIRA Z Les managers face au risque in MARCH J G D cisions et organisations Les Editions d Organisation 1991 MARCH J G amp SIMON H A Les organisations Bordas 1960 MARCH J G D cisions et organisations Les Editions d Organisation 1991 MILLER D B CLEMONSE K amp
3. Expansion M anagement Review Juin 1998 p 78 85 BARTOLI J A L entreprise virtuelle peut elle tre intelligente dans MALLET J L entreprise apprenante Tomel l action productrice de sens J Universit de Provence Aix en Provence 1996 BAUDRY B L conomie des relations interentrerprises Collections Rep res 1995 BLEEKER Samuel E The Virtual Organization Futurist Vol 28 N 2 March April 1994 BRADLEY S P HAUSMAN J A amp NOLAN R L Globalization Technology and Competition The Fusion of Computers and Tadecommunications in the 1990s Harvard Business School 1993 R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 13 BURN J M Aligning the On Line Organistion with What How and Why BYRNEJ A The Virtual Corporation Business W eek February 8 1993 CHESBROUGH H W amp TEECE D J When is virtual virtuous H arvard Business Review January February 1996 CROZIER M L entreprise l coute A pprendrele management postindustriel InterEditions 1989 DAVENPORT T H amp PEARLSON K Two Cheers for the Virtual Office Sloan M anagement Review Summer 1998 DAVIDOW W amp MALONE M TheVirtual Corporation New York Harper Business 1992 DUBE L amp PARE G Nouveaux mod les organisationnels et aspects culturels tude d une entreprise virtuelle qu becoise Proceedings of 5th European Conference on Information Systems 1997 ETTIGHOFFER D L e
4. 986 Interests of members are more short term oriented and the network is very changing 1 BURN Janice M Aligning the On line Organization with What How and Why proceedings of 8th Annual BIT Conference 1998 R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 4 As it will be shown in the second part the network can establish its durability by itself it is a temporary network Relationships may be also dynamic in a more durable activity In that case contracts are signed just to take advantage of opportune moments with cheapest or best providers of the season Less changing relationships are more based on wills of cooperation between members In the literature the stability is a well used variable to represent network forms2 So in this part we propose to take over this dimension for our typology What is cooperation Cooperation has been amalgamated for a long time with collusion Indeed the idea of cooperation between firms shocked because it was considered in compliance with capitalism theory as contrary to the actor independence postulate Konig 1996 Nevertheless the aim of the agreement is different in both cases Collusion is an agreement between enterprises on key variables of the market prices quantities and so on Conversely cooperation refers to coordination processes of a common project like logistic shared resources etc While collusion tries to influence exchange conditions cooperation loo
5. ISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 12 But virtual organization also requires radical new approaches in management worker and job evaluation of coordination organization employee training etc Davenport amp Pearlson 1998 A coordination entirely remotely done may dehumanize relationships and establish virtual barriers between partners So virtual enterprise encloses advantages and drawbacks varying between the forms that we presented in this paper This could be the topic of future studies on this organizational concept that should not be seen as the organizational form of XXI century but only as anew one Bibliography ACKOFF R L Management M isinformations Systems M anagement Science n 4 vol 14 December 1967 ADLER L La strat gie de la symbiose H arvard L Expansion Automne 1979 AMABILE S Contribution l ing nierie de l organisation dela veille strat gique l attention organisationnale These de doctorat Universit d Aix M arseille III octobre 1997 ARROW K J TheLimits of Organization W W Norton amp Company New York 1974 ASHKENASR ULRICH D JICK T amp KERR S The Boundaryless Organization Breaking the Chains of Organizational Structure San Francisco 1996 AVENIER M J amp AMABILE S Which Information for a Boundaryless Organization 3 me colloque del AIM Mai 1997 BALLAY J F Mythes et r alit s du tout communiquant L
6. ROW M Information technology and the global virtual corporation in BRADLEY S P HAUSMAN J A amp NOLAN R L Globalization Technology and Competition The Fusion of Computers and Telecommunications in the 1990s Harvard Business School 1993 pp 284 MILLOT E La logique concurrentielle des strat gies de coop ration dans RAINELLI M GAFFARD J L amp ASQUIN A Les nouvelles formes organisationnales Economica 1995 NALEBUFF B J amp BRANDEN BURGER A M Co op tition Bantam Doubletay Dell Publishing Group 1996 ORLIKOWSKI W amp GASH D Changing Frames understanding technological change in organizations Center for Information Systems Research Working Paper Massachusetts Institute of Technology PAILLET P H Le t l travail pour l emploi et la reconqu te des territoires Lettre de la DATAR n 148 janvier 1994 PERLO A amp HILLSC R unir et souder une quipe virtuelle L Expansion M anagement Review Mars 1998 p 114 119 R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 15 PUTHOD D Entre confiance et d fiance la vigilance au coeur des alliances Gestion 2000 1995 QUINN J B Intelligent Enterprise The Free Press N ew York 1992 RAINELLI M GAFFARD J L amp ASQUIN A Les nouvelles formes organisationnales Economica 1995 RHEINGOLD H Les communaut s virtuelles Autoroutes de l information pour le meilleur et pour lepire Addison Wesley New York 1995
7. Universit de Droit d Economie et des Sciences d Aix Marseille INSTITUT D ADMINISTRATION DES ENTREPRISES Centre d Etudes et de Recherche sur les Organisations et la Gestion ETUDES ET DOCUMENTS S rie Recherche VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE PROPOSITION OF A TYPOLOGY R gis MEISSONIER Genevi ve FERAUD W P n Mai 1999 Moniteur enseignant CIES Allocataire de recherche du conseil r gional Provence Alpes C te d Azur Ma tre de conf rence l IAE d Aix en Provence Toute reproduction interdite L Institut n entend donner aucune approbation ni improbation aux opinions mises dans ces publications ces opinions doivent tre consid r es comme propres leurs auteurs Abstract New Information Technology NIT is now so well used that most organizations can not disregard it Isolated areas of the planet can be served by information superhighways This world is perceived as having no more frontiers and turns out to allow new forms of organizations like the virtual enterprise Some previous researches proposed several representations of virtual enterprise forms An analyze of this new concept in Management Science allow us to depict two main characteristics the NIT impact on organization and the degree of cooperation between firm partners According to both dimensions the aim of this article is to propose instead of an other model a typology of the virtual enterprise concept Key words Virtual enterprise New In
8. We can easily understand that trust is a key condition of horizontal cooperation effectiveness within each partner represents also a rival Puthod 1995 But this feeling is as much necessary within vertical cooperation since financial risks are engaged Chesbrough amp Teece 1996 Some authors like Arrow 1976 consider trust as an essential lubricating of the organizational wheels Others Koenig 1992 Puthod 1995 prefer stating that it is a deciding asset for the continuation of the cooperation In virtual organization some fears between partners might more rise easily Handy 1996 There it is still more relevant because most contacts are remotely done anonymous and invisible actors have to work together Really making someone s acquaintance at a distance is difficult As a paradox the more virtual an organization is the more real encounters between partners are necessary to develop feedings and trust Perlo amp Hills 1998 The wider the geographic scope is the more cultural differences between partners may appear and the more real encounters are necessary Handy 1996 Perlo amp Hills 1998 So dehumanization of relationships is one of the limits of remote coordination system Trust does not appear easily because it is likely to be based more on emotional than rational criteria Despite the stake of maintaining some real encounters between partners to take care of partners trust a real fair game has
9. ay outlets spread all around the world R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 3 providing by EDI sale information in real time be simply considered as independant resellers When all is said and done is Benetton just an intermediary or a real textile network If Benetton may be represented as a form of virtual organization other exist So constructing a typology seems to be an interesting job A recent research on this subject has been done by Janice Burn in 19981 who identified six forms the Virtual Faces model the Co alliance model the Star alliance model the Value alliance model the Market alliance model and the Virtual broker model The aim of this paper is to pursue this area of research Firstly we are analyzing cooperation systems of firm networks Secondly the influence of New Information Technology on the arising of these new forms of organizations is going to be depicted From these two perspectives both dimensions may be distinguished in order to built a typology of Virtual Organizations First dimension the level of cooperation between firms From an economic standpoint virtual organization wavers between hierarchical and market like system Gebauer 1996 Hierarchical system is characterized by stable relationships between members reflecting a core surrounded by satellite organizations Market like relationships are more dynamic and are regulated by economic power Williamson 1975 Thorelli 1
10. ce of its implantation and utilization NIT has different levels of impact on organizations v simply local use v internal integration v redesign of processes v redesign of links with partners R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 9 v and finally redesign of the firm goals Venkatraman 1995 We could transpose the two last ones to the virtual enterprise concept At a first level NIT may be used just as additional tool to coordinate the network EDI Workflow Groupware are systems that permit information exchanges in order to facilitate intra and interorganizational processes But at a higher level that could be a sixth in Venkatraman s moda of diffusion NIT may be perceived by external actors as the only way to communicate with the enterprise See some business web servers forums for instance The activity is transformed into a cyberspace because of its predominance along the value chain The identity of the firm itself is therefore perceived as immaterial and its physical location doesn t really matter for the customer purchases Proposition of a typology With reference to our two dimensions we propose the following matrix as a possible representation of different virtual enterprise forms Each cell corresponds to a virtual network case according to its stability and its NIT diffusion level As illustrations we use some of the examples already presented by Janice Burn 1998 Inde
11. d each actor has limited cognitive capabilities and limited treatment capabilities Since Feldman amp March 1991 showed that most of information collected in organizations is not really used has no report with choices made the link between information and decision is no moretrivial Le Moigne 1990 The information quantity does not reduce the incertitude because the actor risks to be asphyxiated under a huge mass dilapidating his discernment Ackoff 1967 Machlup 1984 Feldman amp March 1991 Sfez 1994 Lesca 1995 Amabile 1997 So in organizations the real problem seems to be more relative to the sensitivity to environmental signs than to obtain information itself AS a consequence persons tend to balance their own weaknesses by sharing information with others in order to obtain a mutual compensation Godet 1989 Kervern 1994 So a cooperation system is a way to bypass our limited rationality and to head for a reticulated rationality But as a voluntary strategy between autonomous actors cooperation must be assorted of a sufficient motivation And it is perhaps the main difficulty R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 6 that organizations have while working with different partners of a complex network Crozier 1989 Despite material resources projects and common objectives what do organizations have to share to favor the cooperation timelessness Trust a key condition for cooperation
12. ed certain characteristics may be similar to ours Virtual federation is a stable network of firms remotely coordinated with NIT by acentral unit Most of virtual enterprises based on this form correspond to a federal firm concentrated on its core competency and that outsources support functions In order to maintain its activity duration satellite units are true partners R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 10 Virtual reseller is the same sort of network but its activity exists in the cyberspace The virtual library Amazon com the software provider Beyond com are instances In this form of virtual enterprise NIT is so important in the value chain that without it products and services could not be proposed The physical location and identity of the enterprise does not really matter to customers Virtual contractor is a temporary network com posed in order to achieve a specific activity An example is the textile industry in Italy Quinn 1993 Faced with the fashion dynamism a network of specialized SMEs is redesigned every season At the end of a period the network is dissolved and recomposed differently the next time in function of the new product characteristics NIT helps SMEs to contract and coordinate their activity rapidly Virtual broker is defined as a designer of dynamic networks Miles amp Snow 1986 According to Burn These prescribe additional strategic opportunities either as third party
13. ew standard of communication So is it really rdevant to analyze the efficiency of such tools knowing that they can not be got away anyway Even if NIT does not create competitive advantage its lack of use may involve competitive disadvantage As the use of telephone or fax appears like an evidence we prefer concentrating our attention on new ways of doing business with NIT than on its legitimacy Isolated areas of the planet can be served by information superhighways The traffic is so high that a real parallel world appears This world is perceived as having no more frontiers Hirschhorn amp Gilmore 1992 and within which new forms of organizations emerge like the virtual enterprise This concept fits for this New World It can be defined as a community of several remote organizations coordinated with NIT According to this idea real meetings between partners disappear for all practical purposes Drexler amp Sibbet 1988 Bleeker 1994 Hofstede amp al 1997 Kiosur 1997 and coordination is remotely done a sort of telecoordination Meissonier 1998 As for us the notion of virtuallity refers to boundaries that are fuzzier than in the past as a consequence Hirschhorn amp Gilmore 1992 Amabile amp Avenier 1997 For instance how Benetton entity should be considered How foreign subcontractors carrying out the whole production have to be viewed As part of the firm As external actors M
14. formation Technology Typology Cooperation Intensity of use R sum Les Nouvelles Technologies de l Information et de la Communication sont maintenant tellement diffus es que la plupart des organisations ne peuvent plus se permettre de les occulter de leur vision strat gique Les zones g ographiques retir es de la plan te peuvent d sormais tre desservies par les autoroutes de l information Ce monde per ue comme n ayant plus de fronti res fait merger de nouvelles formes d organisations comme l entreprise virtuelle Les recherches ant rieures ont propos des repr sentations de diff rentes formes possibles d entreprises virtuelles L analyse des caract ristiques de ce concept mergent en Sciences de Gestion permet d isoler deux caract ristiques principales le niveau d utilisation des NTIC et le degr de coop ration entre les partenaires L objectif de cet artide est de proposer plut t qu un nouveau mod le une typologie partir de ces deux dimensions Mots cl s Entreprise virtuelle Nouvelles Technologies de l Information et de la Communication Typologie Coop ration Intensit d utilisation R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 2 Introduction New Information Technology NIT is now so well used that most organizations can not disregard it Lot of researches have been done about its effectiveness Most failed in their demonstration of the link with firm performance However NIT turns out to be a n
15. ks for a reinforcement of resources competencies and synergies between enterprises of different activity sectors Beyond a business warlike vision cooperation perspective changes relationships from fighting like status to coopetition Millot 1995 K nig 1996 Nalebuff amp Branderburger 1996 The legitimacy of this system is justified if even each firm member is not the best one of the network it is protected against economical and strategic risks that could be worse if it was a free rider 2 For more information about this point see Thorelli 1986 R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 5 Why cooperate Cooperation is a way to achieve together what isolated firms could not do resources sharing Adler 1979 access to foreign markets product and technology developments Hamel Doz amp Prahalad 1989 etc So cooperation is asort of collaboration between enterprises coordinating their complementary competencies along the value chain Baudry 1995 Despite these well known stakes cooperation permits managers to combine their point of views and to obtain insights collectively Lacoste 1992 Indeed faced with environmental complexity human rationality turns out to be insufficient to pretend to access to the optimal solution In compliance with their bounded rationality actors have to settle for satisficing solutions Simon 1947 Arrow 1974 March amp Simon 1960 Le Moigne 1990 Indee
16. ntreprise virtuelle 1992 GEBAUER Judith Virtual organization from an economic perspective the 4t European Conference on Information Systems July 2 4 1996 GODET M Prospective Pourquoi Comment Futuribles novembre 1989 HAMEL G DOZ Y L amp PRAHALAD C K Collaborate with Your Competitors and Win Harvard Business Review January February 1989 HANDY C Trust and the virtual organization H arvard Business Review May June 1995 HIRSCHHORN L amp GILMORE T The N ew Boundaries of the Boundaryless Company H arvard Business Review May June 1992 HOFSTEDE G H amp al Wired International Teams Experiments in Strategic Decision M aking by Multi Cultural Virtual Teams Proceedings of 5th European Conference on Information Systems 1997 HOFSTEDE G H Culture s Consequences International Differences in Work related Values Beverly Hills CA Sage Publications 1980 INGHAM M L apprentissage organisationnel dans les coop rations Revue Francaise de Gestion janvier f vrier 1994 KERVERN G Y La d marche strat gique dans les situations complexes la culture r seau MCX Aix juin 1994 KERVERN G Y Leras des p querettes mode d emploi Euroforum mai 1994 K NIG G amp VAN WIK G Alliances inter entreprises le r le de la confiance dans KCENIG G Management strat gique paradoxes interactions apprentissages Editions Nathan
17. their functionality or their reliability By enabling communication storage and treatment of data those technical systems allow a remote achievement of coordination processes by e R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 8 mail or GDSS for instance or of production processes themselves ticket machines for example Why using NIT NIT may be viewed as a catalyst to the setting up of collaborations or partnerships between enterprises geographically dispersed NIT allows firms to develop projects more easily with foreign partners in order to access markets to take advantage of local resources or to share competencies and knowledge Ettighoffer 1992 Byrne 1993 Moreover by searching to get round time and space constraints organizational advantages can be expected The network is likely to gain flexibility Miller Clemons amp Row 1993 Upton amp McAffe 1996 With its virtual links anew configuration more adapted to the activity evolution can be quickly set up Data processing systems may also help to improve interorganizational processes like with Just In Time transactions Davidow amp Malone 1992 Finally products and services can be directly delivered to consumers with ecommerce applications for instance Despite transport and time saving NIT may involve direct business to business a downsizing in intermediaries and a reducing cost of distribution channels Up to what level As a consequen
18. to be respected between partners Indeed trust influences the dynamic and the rhythm of organizational learning Ingham 1994 and it is linked with R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 7 information exchanges Koenig 1992 So in network organization a real symmetry of information and knowledge exchanges is necessary to respect the feeling of equity Of course the factors that we developed in this part are non exhaustive but are significant in the duration of relationships in cooperative systems Second dimension N ew Information Technology use The specific characteristic which distinguishes virtual enterprise from classical network is the use of NIT Indeed virtual enterprise tries to get round time and space constraints by having a moving geographical scope outlined by data computerized links Without NIT there s no virtual enterprise Whatis NIT NIT encloses all data computerized treatment and communication systems Internet Intranet email Groupware Workflow etc Orlikowski amp Gash According to Scott Morton 1995 technical components which should be taken into account are the following v computers from PC to mainframes v software from email applications to GDSS v data networks v specific working stations high calculators simulators etc v robotics from automated production systems to ticket machines v intelligent chip included in products in order to increase
19. value added suppliers such as in the case of common web marketing events e Xmas Networks formed in this sort of business web meeting are therefore temporary and very flexible R gis MEISSONIER CEROG IAE d Aix en Provence 11 Virtual coordination co de Virtual Federation Virtual Contractor a Cc 2 Virtual Reseller Virtual Broker E SS Relationships Stable Dynamic Conclusion Of course this typology does not pretend to be exhaustive Due to the raise of communication channels several representations of new forms of organization could be done However if a lot of network typologies already exists it was interesting to construct one for this exacerbated reticular form that is the virtual enterprise Numerous studies on possible advantages of NIT had been done In addition to those reminded in the paper others concern more political aspects About country planning some governmental projects try to take advantage of telework For example in France incentives for the development of teleservice offices in rural regions aim to avoid depopulation At a wider scope NIT allows virtual organizations to establish links with developing countries more easily in order to enhance local resources So a better diffusion of NIT could also be the takeoff point of better nation implications of in worldwide economy 3 For more information about this point see French DATAR reports R gis ME
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