Virtual enterprise formation in the context of a sustainable partner network

Abstract

Purpose Various networked organizational forms already exist in the market today, however, all of them share the same problem – lack of fast and objective procedures for partners’ selection when addressing a particular project. The purpose of this paper is to solve such problems by offering an alternative to the existing global market layout, dominated by large corporations. Design/methodology/approach This research belongs to the category “fuzzy decision making and multi-attributive decision making,” since it is using methodologies such as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), the fuzzy-AHP approach, and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution. Findings The authors defend that appropriate partner selection is a vital success factor in any collaboration. Research limitations/implications The authors have designed a sustainable partner network solution for the field of machinery. Nevertheless, the proposed approach is adaptable to other fields also, whereas the focal player or project owner selects the best partner based on a set of criteria. Practical implications The paper includes a feasibility case study for the approval of findings, where several small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the field of machining collaborate to achieve a common goal. Social implications The research focuses on production enterprises (especially for SMEs) and is intended to improve their competitiveness. Small enterprises combining into a network makes it possible to compete with large corporations and helps to decrease project initiation time and project realization risks. Originality/value The main idea is to collect information about the available resources of SMEs into a new temporary entity and to utilize those resources for the realization of the tasks of a particularly large project, while meeting customer expectations. In addition, this work also suggests a calculation tool for faster partner evaluation (assessment) based on various criteria for each particular project.

Collaborative Networks: A Pillar of Digital Transformation

“…• VBE management: competency models and management [44], trust building management [45], VBE management systems [46]. • VO/VE creation: negotiation and contracting [47], VO creation services [48,49]. • VO/VE management: performance management [50], self-organizing principles and collaborative business processes [51].…”

Techniques for Personnel Selection in Virtual Organization

“…The consideration of such uncertainty problem in the assessment confirms of the urgency of the use of HAM and fuzzy numbers obtained by referring to the statements' comparison [18,26]. [6,16] reviews the issue of selecting the partners based on such approach. [6] uses the value, quality, financial stability, customer service as an evaluation criteria, while [16] proposes a method for determining the proximity of the ideal solution based on HRM for a quick and objective choice of partners in solving certain projects.…”

“…On the other hand, the factors such as increasing the working hours, avoiding stress arisen from the communication with the external persons and avoiding dismissals have led to increased labor performance [7]. In such organizations, workplaces are short-term and rapidly changing, the accumulation of employees is time-consuming and requires high productivity [15,16]. All the above-mentioned peculiarities sets out the following requirements for the workforce involved in VO [1]: -ability to clearly and concisely express the issue (international organizations require foreign language skills); -writing, electronic communication skills; -wide scope knowledge, abilities to solve a few issues in parallel; -set goals and time; -ability to find non-standard solutions for solving various issues; -high personal responsibility for the outcome of the work (for which the employee should be familiar with the relevant instructions, the basics of legislation, the company's ethic guidelines); -have to imagine the work of the organization; -ability to successfully collaborate in virtual environments (this is related not only to the individual's psychological features, but also to corporate management culture and changing technologies) and so on.…”

“…[6,16] reviews the issue of selecting the partners based on such approach. [6] uses the value, quality, financial stability, customer service as an evaluation criteria, while [16] proposes a method for determining the proximity of the ideal solution based on HRM for a quick and objective choice of partners in solving certain projects. The proposed approach is solved by referring to additive aggregation [27,28], which enables the participation of any alternative in the recruitment even though it (alternative) is equal to zero, and even allows selecting the best alternative.…”

“…However, in the VO, employees are involved in the implementation of a specific short-term project [2,15,16] for each of these requirements are to be satisfied, and this requires a reference to the multiplicative aggregation method for selecting the best alternative and ranking the alternatives.…”