Request based virtual organisations (RBVO): An implementation scenario

Abstract

Evolving e-commerce technologies increasingly enable organisations to participate in different types of network forms or in electronic markets with previously unidentified trading partners. Virtual organisations (VO) take different forms, have varying lifecycles and involve different scope and depth of relationships. This paper examines the literature in terms of the terminology of virtual organisations, the business drivers, the common theoretical concepts and models as well as the enabling technologies. A specific form of VO, Request Based Virtual Organisation (RB VO), is then considered in relation to these VO variants, particularly as realised through the practical work done within the framework of the EU sponsored LA URA project that facilitates interregional zones of adaptive electronic commerce. © 2005 by International Federation for Information Processing.