9.1 Introduction

We have suggested that one useful concept of virtual organization is that of an opportunistic grouping of collaborating organizations, each of which focuses on a set of core competencies or capabilities at which it excels (see Chapter 4). This opportunistic network of firms is fluid and changes according to circumstances and needs. Such a network of firms is likely to be created and sustained through the processes of outsourcing and partnering/alliance formation.

As the trend toward moving away from non-core activities intensifies, and indeed as the relationship between companies and their suppliers becomes less and less like the purchasing of the service and more and more like a partnership, so the trend toward virtual organizing will increase. Furthermore, as firms utilize IT and the Internet to expedite the information exchange elements of maintaining such relationships, we move even closer to the classically defined virtual organizational form.

In contrast to the position adopted in this book, in which we argue for the desirable existence of several different forms of virtual organization as strategic responses to give environments and opportunities, some writers posit the desirability of the new collaborating organization which uses alliance or outsourcing strategies as the complete means of component process fulfilment. It will help us now to look at these models or visions for the future, looking at the role of both outsourcing and partnering...