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The virtualisation potential of SME networks: an exploratory investigation (Contributo in volume (capitolo o saggio))

Type

Prodotto della ricerca (Classe)
Contributo in volume (capitolo o saggio) (Classe)

Label

The virtualisation potential of SME networks: an exploratory investigation (Contributo in volume (capitolo o saggio)) (literal)

Anno

2010-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 (literal)

Alternative label

Esposito E.; Evangelista P.; Lauro V.; Raffa M. (2010)
The virtualisation potential of SME networks: an exploratory investigation
Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham (Regno Unito) in , 2010
(literal)

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Esposito E.; Evangelista P.; Lauro V.; Raffa M. (literal)

Pagina inizio

169 (literal)

Pagina fine

194 (literal)

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Il volume è disposnibile come ebook nei seguenti siti: www.EBSCOhost.com www.myilibrary www.ebooks.com www.ebookscorporation.com www.dawsonera.com www.ebrary.com/corp/ www.books.google.com/ebooks (literal)

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http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_contents.lasso?id=14090 (literal)

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Smallbone D.; Leitao J.; Raposo M.; Welter F. (eds.) The Theory and Practice of Entrepreneurship. Frontier in European Entrepreneurship Research (literal)

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25 (literal)

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n Italy during the 1970s and 1980s, networks of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), such as enterprise clusters and industrial districts, offered an important alternative to the advantages achieved through a larger production scale in many countries and industries. However, in more recent decades uniform growth in SME networks has come to an end. In order to respond to competitive challenges, local SME networks have experimented with new development paths, and the range of options has significantly expanded. Traditional unidirectional development paths have no longer proved valid, and various avenues have been pursued to face up to market globalization. Accordingly, on discussing the future of industrial districts, Becattini et al. (2003) recognized that this organizational form of SMEs has often proved to be rather a stage in one of the possible different paths of industrialization. The radical changes that have occurred in the competitive scenario in recent years have driven small firms to seek new development paths in order to cope with the growing complexity of the business environment and to ensure access to new sources of competitive advantage (Davenport and Short 1990; Manuelli 2002). In this new scenario, many studies have stressed firms opportunities to redesign processes and business organizations through electronic networks on a worldwide scale (Jin and Robey 2008; Scott Morton 1991; Tapscott 1996). By focusing on the gains in efficiency stemming from the electronic management of business processes, physical proximity and localization have become less important. According to the recent literature and current business practice, small firms are seeking new forms of collaborative relationships with a higher degree of decisional and operational flexibility, in order to satisfy customer demands faster and at a lower cost. One of these emerging organizationalm forms is the virtual enterprise (VE) (see, for example, Davidow and Malone 1992; Thompson, 2008). In this model, information and communication technology (ICT) is considered the driver of local SME network competitiveness. Specifically, ICT solutions are considered a powerful tool to enhance local innovation processes towards global networks. Electronic networks may increase the value of a firms capacity to develop a high level of local expertise and specialized knowledge by enlarging its domains on a global scale. Major consequences for local SME networks may derive from the advent of the VE model. Information technologies can develop the local systems by enlarging their boundaries, so that they can manage more independently relations with their suppliers and with the final market, and share specific knowledge that is useful to the whole value-chain system. Despite increasing academic interest in this organizational form, it is still not clear whether the VE model may be considered a possible response to the greater complexity and instability of todays business environment. Moreover, since a number of definitions of VE have been suggested, it is not clear whether there is a unique organizational form or there are a variety of VE models presenting shared characteristics (Cunha and Putnik, 2006). In addition, although existing empirical studies mainly focus on traditional forms of collaboration among firms (such as supply chain and industrial districts), the evolutionary paths that allow firms to move from traditional forms to the VE model have not been fully explored. Finally, even if this topic has been dealt with extensively, there is little empirical research investigating real cases of VE (De Sanctis and Monge, 1999). There two main objectives of this chapter. The first is to ascertain whether it is possible to identify a unique VE model, or a framework that includes a variety of VE models through analysis of recent literature. The second objective is to contribute to plug the gap in the empirical research with a field analysis focused on a network of SMEs. From an empirical point of view, the chapter analyses a network of small and medium-sized firms located in the eastern area of Naples (ENES), through a questionnaire survey in order to assess whether the network is evolving towards the VE model. The chapter is organized into eight parts. This introduction is followed by a literature review on the virtual enterprise. The third section identifies different VE models on the basis of findings derived from the previous section. The fourth section describes the research context. The methodology used to carry out the survey is detailed in the subsequent section. In the sixth section the findings emerging from the empirical analysis are presented and discussed. Next, the empirical and theoretical results are jointly discussed. Finally, conclusions and implications are outlined. (literal)

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Esposito E. e Raffa M.: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Economico-Gestionale (DIEG), Facoltà di Ingegneria - Università di Napoli Federico II Lauro V.: Univeristà di Bergamo, Italia (literal)

Titolo

The virtualisation potential of SME networks: an exploratory investigation (literal)

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in Smallbone D., Leitao J., Raposo M., Welter F. (eds.) The Theory and Practice of Entrepreneurship. Frontier in European Entrepreneurship Research (literal)

Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#isbn

978 1 84980 379 3 (literal)

Abstract

According to the recent literature and current business practice, the recent changes characterising the business environment have forced companies to seek new forms of collaborative relationships with a higher degree of decisional and operational flexibility in order to satisfy customer demands faster and at a lower cost. This is also true for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) due to their traditional scarcity of resources. One of the emerging firms' organizational models is the virtual enterprise (VE). In this model Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is considered a key resource for sharing knowledge and managing information flows among companies participating in a VE network. Electronic networks may increase the value of a firms' capacity to develop a high level of local expertise and specialized knowledge by enlarging its domains on a global scale. Major consequences for local SME networks may derive from the adoption of the VE model. ICT may allow the development of local systems by enlarging their boundaries, so that they can manage relations with their suppliers and with the final market more independently and share specific knowledge. Despite increasing academic interest in the VE model, it is still not clear whether the VE model may be considered a possible response to the greater complexity and instability of today's business environment. Moreover, since a number of definitions of VE have been suggested, it is not clear whether there is a unique organizational form or there are a variety of VE models presenting shared characteristics. In addition, although existing empirical studies mainly focus on traditional forms of collaboration among firms (such as supply chain and industrial districts), the evolutionary paths that allow firms to move from traditional forms to the VE model have not been fully explored. Finally, even if this topic has been dealt with extensively, there is little empirical research investigating real cases of VE. Two are the main objectives of this chapter: 1. to ascertain whether it is possible to identify a unique VE model or a variety of VE models through analysing the literature in the field; 2. to contribute to plug the gap on empirical research through an questionnaire survey implemented on a SME network located in the eastern area of Naples (ENES) in order to assess whether the network is evolving towards the VE model. The results of the literature review indicate two VE models have been identified: the hierarchical and holarchical models. In the case of the hierarchical VE, a leader company assumes the coordination of the network, and generally manages market relationships acting as the product integrator. By contrast, the holarchical model is characterized by a self-organization in which the success of the virtual enterprise strictly depends on all partners co-operating as a single unit. The survey findings establish that VEs created within the ENES network assume a hybrid form. In comparison with the above two models, the hybrid model has some common and specific characteristics. (literal)

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