Internal Factor Evaluation and External Factor Evaluation matrices allow an organization to visualize their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats while a Competitive Profile Matrix utilizes critical success factors to allow an organization to compare itself to other competitors. The authors wondered if substituting basic internal strengths and weaknesses categories, and external opportunities and threats classifications for the conventional CSFs in a forced ranking method could extend the Competitive Profile Matrix to allow additional strategic understanding. The goal of extending the Competitive Profile Matrix using the forced ranking of important organizational factors when evaluating an organizations relative competitive position against major competitors was successfully realized. An External Competitive Profile Matrix (ECPM) and an Internal Competitive Profile Matrix (ICPM) better draw awareness to internal and external categories that need an organizations attention.

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) and External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrices allow an organization to visualize their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats while a Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) utilizes critical success factors to allow an organization to compare itself to competitors. Capps and Glissmeyer (2012) proposed an extension of the EFE and IFE concepts to an External Competitive Profile Matrix (ECPM) and an Internal Competitive Profile Matrix (ICPM) which provides greater insight in understanding the external and internal categories to which an organization must attend. The authors of this paper extend the observations of Capps and Glissmeyer (2012) by suggesting that visual mapping of the ECPM and ICPM, in a manner similar on the Internal-External (I-E) matrix, would enable greater comparative understanding of the relative strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the respective companies.

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This chapter suggests that computer-mediated technologies (CMTs) facilitate organizational trust and distrust by leading to what we introduce as Virtual Assurance. Through partnering and outsourcing, organizations are exposed to managing simultaneous organizational trust and distrust. For instance, CMTs allow more precise and timely monitoring of organizations in a high trust and high distrust context, a process that leads to Virtual Assurance. We further describe Virtual Assurance as a means to manage the fragility of modern interorganizational relationships, especially when high trust and high distrust is present. We also suggest that the presence of Virtual Assurance will ultimately provide a competitive advantage to firms in making contractual agreements, tracking progress, imposing penalties, and shielding organizations from potential harm.