E-Business and Virtual Enterprises, 2001
Managing Business-to-Business Cooperation
IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology Series, Vol. 56

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.

Technical Co-Sponsors. Referees. Foreword. Part 1: New Organizational Models. 1. Will the Organisation Disappear? The Challenges of the New Economy and Future Perspectives; E. Filos, E. Banahan. 2. A New Paradigm for the Next Century: The Task Oriented Job Market; M.M. Fioroni, A. Batocchio. 3. E-Diagnosis: Knowledge Management and Organizational Change in Virtual Times; P.S. Grave, et al. 4. A Diary Using Fuzzy Sets; W.C.B. Neto, F.A.O. Gauthier. Part 2: Infrastructure Requirements. 5. Infrastructure for the Advanced Virtual Enterprise: A Report Using a Brazilian-Based Example; H.T. Goranson. 6. Linking SMEs' Clusters: A View of the Information Infrastructure; M.E. Léon, et al. 7. Working Efficiently with the Service Industries; A.J. Scavarda, et al. 8. VE Infrastructures Requirements for Cooperation and Knowledge Sharing; N. Silva, J. Rocha. Part 3: Infrastructures Development. 9. Supporting Agility in Virtual Enterprises; L.M. Camarinha-Matos, et al. 10. The SACE-CSCW Framework: An Infrastructure to Support Virtual Enterprises and Concurrent Engineering Processes; A.C. Santos, et al. 11. Design of a Computer-Supported Cooperative Environment for Small and Medium Enterprises; A.P.F. Mundim, C.F. Bremer. 12. Environment for Design and Analysis of System Integration; M.F. Carvalho, C. Machado. Part 4: Multi-Agent Based Collaboration. 13. Requirements for an Agent Based Information System Supporting Variably Coupled Networked Enterprises; A.L. Azevedo, etal. 14. Federated Multi-Agent Scheduling in Virtual Enterprises; R.J. Rabelo, et al. 15. The NetMan Agent-Based Architecture for E-Business in Network Organizations; L. Cloutier, et al. 16. A Mobile-Agent Based Architecture for Virtual Enterprises; L. Brito, et al. Part 5: Information Management and Coordination. 17. Supporting Information Access Rights and Visibility Levels in Virtual Enterprises; A. Frenkel, et al. 18. A Virtual Project House Infrastructure for Distributed Development Processes; G. Frick, K.D. Müller-Glaser. 19. The Holonic Paradigm as a New Metaphor for the Coordination Problem of Virtual Enterprises; G.N. Franco, A. Batocchio. 20. Protocol-Based Cooperation in a Virtual Manufacturing Organization; T. Janowski, P.C. Vinh. Part 6: Supply Chain Management. 21. Agent-Based Infrastructure of Supply Chain Network Management; C. Chandra, et al. 22. A Distributed Framework for Collaborative Supply Network Integration; J.-M. Frayret, et al. 23. New Tools for Multi-Stage Supply Chains; W. Sihn, et al. 24. Supply Chain Management and Distributed Manufacturing in the Automative Industry; G. Schaub, E. Krauß. Part 7: Industry Clusters and Brokerage. 25. Action Research: The Formation of a Manufacturing Virtual Industry Cluster; J.E.M. Siqueira, C.F. Bremer. 26. Exploitation of Business Opportunities: The Role of the Virtual Enterprise Broker; A. Molina, M. Flores. 27. Agent-Based Brokerage for Virtual Enterprise Creation in The Moulds Industry; R.J. Ra