The fast progress in computer networks and their wide availability complemented with on one hand the "explosion" of the mobile computing and on the other hand the trends in the direction of ubiquitous computing, act as powerful enablers for new forms of highly dynamic collaborative organizations and emergence of new business practices. The first efforts in virtual enterprises (VE) were strongly constrained by the need to design and develop horizontal infrastructures aimed at supporting the basic collaboration needs of consortia of enterprises. Even pilot projects that were focused on specific business domains were forced to first develop some basic infrastructures before being able to develop their specific business models. Nowadays, although there is still a need to consolidate and standardize the horizontal infrastructures, the focus is more and more directed to the development of new vertical business models and the corresponding support tools. At the same time, in the earlier R&D projects, the attention was almost exclusively devoted to the operation phase of the VE life cycle, while now there are more activities addressing the creation phase, developing mechanisms to support the rapid formation of new virtual organizations for new business opportunities. In order to complete the life cycle, there is a need to also invest on support for VE dissolution.

Virtual Enterprise Integration: Technological and Organizational Perspectives addresses the emergent research and development issues for the most-advanced enterprise organizational paradigm of today's world - the virtual enterprise paradigm. Virtual enterprise is characterized as a dynamic agile network of independent enterprises sharing all resources, including knowledge, market, and customers, in order to be permanently aligned with the highly demanding and global dynamic market. The issue of integration is the critical success factor in creation, reconfiguration and operation of a virtual enterprise as it is a network of partners that use heterogeneous resources that are supposed to work together effectively and efficiently. The problem of integration is multidimensional and one of the most difficult to resolve and manage. Virtual Enterprise Integration: Technological and Organizational Perspectives integrates the contributions by renowned international researchers and scientists and is virtually the first book focusing solely on the problem of virtual enterprise integration. This book is a guide that gives readers a broader perspective of VE integration requirements and raises their awareness on which technology and how technology can serve the needs of an expanding and increasingly competitive organizational model.

Providing material from recognised worldwide sources, this book presents the theory and evidence on electronic commerce and virtual business and examines the impact both outside and inside the business organisation.

"This book deals with risk management in enterprise network formations, stressing the importance of risk management in enterprises organized in networks followed by the presentation of the researcher suggested approaches which most of the time emphasizes in a supply chain"--Provided by publisher.

This work addresses eCommerce issues in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a global setting. It covers issues that are of importance to researchers, students, and professionals interested in the eCommerce field in SMEs.

Towards collaborative business ecosystems Last decade was fertile in the emerging of new collaboration mechanisms and forms of dynamic virtual organizations, leading to the concept of dynamic business ecosystem, which is supported (or induced ?) by the progress of the ubiquitous I pervasive computing and networking. The new technologies, collaborative business models, and organizational forms supported by networking tools "invade" all traditional businesses and organizations what requires thinking in terms of whole systems, i. e. seeing each business as part of a wider economic ecosystem and environment. It is also becoming evident that the agile formation of very dynamic virtual organizations depends on the existence of a proper longer-term "embedding" or "nesting" environment (e. g. regional industry cluster), in order to guarantee certain basic requirements such as trust building ("Trusting your partner" is a gradual and long process); common interoperability, ontology, and distributed collaboration infrastructures; agreed business practices (requiring substantial engineering Ire-engineering efforts); a sense of community ("we vs. the others"), and some sense of stability (when is a dynamic state or a stationary state useful). The more frequent situation is the case in which this "nesting" environment is formed by organizations located in a common region, although geography is not a major facet when cooperation is supported by computer networks.

Virtual Enterprise Integration: Technological and Organizational Perspectives addresses the emergent research and development issues for the most-advanced enterprise organizational paradigm of today's world - the virtual enterprise paradigm. Virtual Enterprise Integration: Technological and Organizational Perspectives integrates the contributions by renowned international researchers and scientists and is virtually the first book focusing solely on the problem of virtual enterprise integration. This book is a guide that gives readers a broader perspective of VE integration requirements and raises their awareness on which technology and how technology can serve the needs of an expanding and increasingly competitive organizational model.

Collaborative Network Organizations (CNO) corresponds to a very active and steadily growing area. For instance, Virtual enterprises/Virtual Organizations (PVC) suggest new ways of work and put the emphasis on collaborative networks of human actors. Further to these main lines, other collaborative forms and patterns of collaborative behavior are emerging, not only in industry, but also in service sector, as well as governmental and non-government social organizations, e.g. the collaborative networks for rescue tasks in disaster situations, time bank organizations, etc. The concept of breeding environment is now understood as a fundamental entity to enable dynamic collaborative organizations.

The implementation of Enterprise Networks or e-Networking is of paramount importance for organisations. Enterprise-wide networking would warrant that the components of information architecture are organised to harness more out of the organisation's computing power on the desktop. This would also involve establishment of networks that link the various but important subsystems of the enterprise. Our firm belief is that in order to gain a competitive edge the organisations need knowledge and sound strategy. This conviction is particularly true today, considering the pressures from international competition, environmental concerns and complicated ethical issues. This book, entitled A Manager's Primer on e-Networking, negotiates the hyper dimensions of the Internet through stories from myriad of Web sites with its fluent presentation and simple but chronological organisation of topics highlighting numerous opportunities and providing a solid starting point not only for inexperienced entrepreneurs and managers but anyone interested in applying information technology in the business. I sincerely hope the book will help as well many small and medium size companies and organisations to launch corporate networking successfully in order to attain their strategic objectives. Rajiv Jayashankar, Ph. D.

E-Business has become a fact for almost all companies. But what are the key technologies for economically successful e-commerce? In this book readers will find all concepts that will coin tomorrow’s e-business: virtual sales assistants (shopbots), personalized web pages, electronic market places, vendor managed inventory, virtual organizations, supply chain management. Both technical and economic issues of these concepts are discussed in detail. Leading-edge real world applications are presented that will shape e-business mid-term. This book is a must-read for managers or technical consultants as well as researchers needing in-depth information for strategic business decisions.