Looking back over recent industrial history the limitations of the mass manufacturing business model and the adoption of lean manufacturing models appears a logical response to the industrial environment. To anticipate competitive strategies we need to develop our manufacturing models ahead of widespread industrial practitioner adoption. This requires new and appropriate enterprise models. The analysis and interpretation of political, economical, social and technological trends gives insights to the characteristics of these future, more effective forms of organization. This is the approach adopted in this article.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the reorganization of healthcare services and teleconsultation emerged as a solution to facilitate patient appointments. The aim of this study was to characterize, from a physician perspective, the teleconsultations carried out in the Portuguese National Health Service (SNS) during the first phase of the pandemic and to identify factors that influence the experience of the teleconsultation.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted based on an online survey, between July-September 2020, aimed at SNS doctors. Data on demographics, practice, attitudes and perceptions associated with the teleconsultation was collected. The adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) was calculated to identify demographic factors and determinants of teleconsultation associated with satisfaction, use of video calls and greater motivation to carry out teleconsultations in the future.Results: 2225 valid responses were obtained. Teleconsultation was carried out by 93.8% of participants in this period, 99.0% used the telephone as a form of communication and only 8.0% used a video call. A high degree of satisfaction with the teleconsultation was significantly associated with perceiving the teleconsultation as providing care with equivalent quality to a face-to-face consultation (aPR = 1.472) and being motivated to do teleconsultation after the pandemic (aPR = 4.081). Reporting clinical (aPR = 0.763) or technical difficulties (aPR = 0.666) was negatively associated with satisfaction). 70.4% of doctors would like to continue doing follow-up teleconsultations and 53.3% consider that video call technologies should always or often be used during teleconsultations.Conclusion: Teleconsultation seems to have potential to to become a common practice in the future. However, it is important to address clinical, technical, organizational, and legal questions and, above all, to ensure that it is a safe and valuable practice for patients.

Technologies offer a powerful enabling mechanism for companies to increase their competitive advantage. To exploit its full business performance potential, the application of technology must be aligned with the mission, objectives and goals of the business, and be integrated with the people and the organisational elements. Changing environmental conditions demand the development of new ways to visualise and to design businesses. Reference frameworks facilitate management development of the business vision and enables alignment of vision across the organisation. This article presents a new reference paradigm for the emerging manufacturing industry vision: the Extended Enterprise. The authors detail a prescriptive framework to realise the Extended Enterprise.

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