E-Commerce and V-Business

10

Structure, strategy andsuccess factors for thevirtual organization

Peter Marshall, Judy McKayand Janice Burn

Introduction

Of late, the notion of the virtual organization has attracted a great deal of attention. Indeed, in a comparatively short period of time, there has arisen an extensive literature on the subject and on the strategy of virtual organizing. However, for a number of reasons, this body of literature does not necessarily elucidate this topic. First, there is confusion in the literature on what is meant by ‘virtual’ and the ‘virtual organization’. Arguably, while this semantic confusion exists, clarity in this field will not (indeed, cannot) be achieved. Second, there is a tendency to confuse ‘virtual’ with ‘virtuous’, ‘virtuality’ ...