This document discusses strategies for virtual organizing. It describes virtual organizing as focusing on creating and deploying knowledge assets through complex networks. It outlines three key dimensions: customer interaction through remote experiences and communities, asset configuration by acquiring modules from external sources, and knowledge leverage by sharing expertise across boundaries. Each dimension progresses through stages as networks and technology advance. The conclusion notes challenges in transitioning to virtual organizing models.

1. REAL STRATEGIES FOR VIRTUAL
ORGANIZING
N. Venkatraman – John C. Henderson
Presented By,
B. Sundaravadivelu
ESIGELEC, Rouen, France
Email: buvanesh.s@gmail.com

2. POINTS TO DISCUSS
 What is Virtual Organizing
 Dimensions
 Customer Interaction
 Asset Configuration
 Knowledge Leverage

3. VIRTUAL ORGANIZING
 Virtual Organizing is a strategic approach that is
singularly focused on creating, nurturing and
deploying key knowledge assets in a complex
network of relationships.
 Developed with IT at the center

4. DIMENSIONS
 Customer Interaction
 Company to Customer interaction
 Asset Configuration
 Manage firms requirements through business network
 Knowledge Leverage
 Share expertise across organizational boundaries

5. STAGES OF DIMENSIONS

6. CUSTOMER INTERACTION
 In Early days, this process happened through
multistage distribution network
 This involves retailers, wholesalers, service agents
 Evolving economy allows two way information link
between customer and company through remote
mechanism.
 This is available in business to business products as
well.
 Three stages of Customer interaction
 Remote experience of products and services
 Dynamic customization
 Customer communities

7. CUSTOMER INTERACTION – REMOTE EXP
 Sears, Roebuck was the first successful attempt of
creating a virtual product experience.
 Remote and continuous link with customers become
critical as the concept of brand identity and brand
equity.
 Internet has accelerated the possibilities of remote
product and service experience.
 Mailing services (FedEx)
 Stock services
 Airlines and Bank services
 Traditional selling of textbooks have changed to web
based links for books
 Website is essential

8. CUSTOMER INTERACTION – DYNAMIC
CUSTOMIZATION
 Focuses on dynamic customizing products and
services
 Based on three principles
 Modularity
 Partitioning into independent modules
 Reusability
 Intelligence
 Sites learn their visitors taste and deliver dynamic personalized
information about products and services.
 Organization
 Need to change how they look at marketing processes.

9. CUSTOMER INTERACTION – CUSTOMER
COMMUNITIES
 Communities are information gathering and information
disseminating platform.
 Five defining characteristics of virtual communities
 Focus
 Capacity to reach larger audience
 Appreciation of member generated content
 Competing offerings
 Commercial orientations
 Companies which have implemented
 Citibank – For customers to know their product
 Harley-Davidson – Share Harley owners pictures and stories

10. ASSET CONFIGURATION
 Acquiring critical assets and resources from external
markets
 Effective contracting for complementary capabilities
through a network of suppliers and subcontractors.
 Allows companies to focus on their core competencies
which will also obtain complementary assets through
inter-firm relationship.
 Three stages of Asset configuration
 Sourcing modules
 Process Interdependence
 Resource coalitions

11. ASSET CONFIGURATION – SOURCING MODULES
 Deals with the benefits of efficiently sourcing standard
modules or components.
 Sourcing logic plays a vital role for any company.
 Selection of assets is complicated because the criticality
of assets changes over time
 Personal computer market which was conceptualized by
IBM in 1980.

12. ASSET CONFIGURATION – PROCESS
INTERDEPENDENCE
 Focuses on interdependence of business processes
across organizational boundaries.
 Business process outsourcing with full control.
 This involves delegation of one or more business
processes to an external service provider
 Examples:
 DirecTV: Integrated satellite television, phone
 FedEx: Virtual order taking and processing of orders.

13. KNOWLEDGE LEVERAGE
 The basic economic resource is not land, physical
resources or capital but knowledge and intellectual
assets.
 Knowledge assets can support rapid execution of
strategies, increase learning rate of employees and their
response rate to customers.
 Three states of Knowledge Leverage
 Work-Unit Expertise
 Recognizing knowledge as Corporate Assets
 Professional community expertise

14. KNOWLEDGE LEVERAGE – WORK UNIT EXPERTISE
 Tasks can be decomposed and can be done at different
locations and time periods.
 IT functionality like group ware, video conferencing and
intranets are necessary to make processes effective in an
organization.
 Knowledge sharing sessions are held between teams to
share expertise
 Companies distribute work to teams in different time
zones.

15. CORPORATE ASSETS & PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY
EXPERTISE
 Knowledge is a corporate wide asset that should be
systematically managed.
 Emerging virtual communities serve as a primary
mechanism for collecting and legitimizing knowledge and
expertise
 Multiple experts from different locations can
simultaneously interpret the meaning of unforeseen event
 Companies face the challenge of how to compensate and
motivate the expertise from multiple sources.

16. CONCLUSION
 Challenges for transition
 Designing new business model
 Interacting with customer for knowledge leverage
 Navigating across multiple communities
 Deploying IT platform
 Virtual organizing as a concept focuses on the importance
of knowledge and intellect in creating value.