The virtual corporation: learning from construction

Manufacturing organisations are evolving towards virtual corporations, under the influence of an increasing need for specialisation. In the literature and in management the virtual corporation is advocated as the way of doing business for the twenty‐first century. However, in the construction industry, co‐operation in networks has long since been common practice. At the same time, the construction industry is known for its poor controllability. The manufacturing industry should, therefore, learn from the construction industry in order to avoid such problems. A typology for co‐operation and co‐ordination in construction is presented in this paper. Each of the types is evaluated for its strengths and weaknesses and conclusions are drawn regarding their applicability in manufacturing.

[1]  P. J. H. Baily,et al.  Purchasing Principles and Management , 1981 .

[2]  Albert B. Cherns,et al.  Studying the client's role in construction management , 1984 .

[3]  A. Ansari,et al.  JIT purchasing as a quality and productivity centre , 1988 .

[4]  Daniel Roos,et al.  The machine that changed the world : the story of lean production , 1991 .

[5]  Daniel T. Jones,et al.  The machine that changed the world : based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5-million dollar 5-year study on the future of the automobile , 1990 .

[6]  Piet van der Vlist,et al.  Aspects of the External Integration of Production Management Systems with EDI , 1992, Integration in Production Management Systems.

[7]  W. H. Davidow,et al.  The Virtual Corporation: Structuring and Revitalizing the Corporation for the 21st Century , 1992 .

[8]  B. Melles.  Production control in construction: Different approaches to control, use of information and automated data processing , 1993 .

[9]  Joel R. Evans,et al.  The relationship marketing process: A conceptualization and application , 1994 .

[10]  D. Macbeth,et al.  Partnership Sourcing: An Integrated Supply Chain Management Approach , 1994 .

[11]  A. Weele,et al.  Purchasing Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice , 1994 .

[12]  Jc Johan Wortmann,et al.  Future manufacturing systems—towards the extended enterprise , 1995 .

[13]  James Martin.  Cybercorp: The New Business Revolution , 1996 .

[14]  Robert de Graaf,et al.  Inter-organizational concurrent engineering: a case study in PCB manufacturing , 1996 .

[15]  Martin Betts,et al.  Information technology support to construction design and production , 1998 .

[16]  Lars-Erik Gadde,et al.  Supply strategy and network effects — purchasing behaviour in the construction industry , 2000 .