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Towards the virtual organisation

Davidow and Malone (1992) describe a virtual corporation as follows:

To the outside observer, it will appear almost edgeless, with permeable and continuously 

changing interfaces between company, supplier and customer. From inside the firm, the 

Core value chain

activities

Strategic core VC partners

Non-strategic service partners

Manufacturing

Value chain integrators*

Product

warehousing

Inbound

logistics

Human

resources

Value chain integrators*

Admin

e.g. travel

Fulfilment

Downstream

VC partners

Sell-side

intermediaries

Suppliers

Upstream

VC partners

Buy-side

intermediaries

Finance

Figure 6.9

Members of the value network of an organisation

Source: Adapted from Deise et al. (2000).

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Part 2  Strategy and applications

view will be no less amorphous, with traditional offices, departments, and operating divi-

sions constantly reforming according to need. Job responsibilities will regularly shift.  

 An implication of increasing outsourcing of core activities is that companies will move 

towards the