21-12.

Virtual enterprise

Pattern description

A virtual enterprise (VE) is a temporary alliance of businesses that come together to share skills or core competencies and resources in order to better respond to business opportunities, and whose cooperation is supported by computer networks.

Inventive problems

The company should be large and have a complex structure to perform a large number of diverse operations for the development, production, and delivery of a complex product to the customers.

The company should be small and have a simple structure in order to:

  • reduce the variety and complexity of the company activities;
  • focus on a small number of core operations;
  • have a small stuff;
  • minimize the cost of development, production, sale, and delivery of products to customers.