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.

Virtual Enterprise Integration: Technological and Organizational Perspectives addresses the emergent research and development issues for the most-advanced enterprise organizational paradigm of today's world - the virtual enterprise paradigm. Virtual enterprise is characterized as a dynamic agile network of independent enterprises sharing all resources, including knowledge, market, and customers, in order to be permanently aligned with the highly demanding and global dynamic market. The issue of integration is the critical success factor in creation, reconfiguration and operation of a virtual enterprise as it is a network of partners that use heterogeneous resources that are supposed to work together effectively and efficiently. The problem of integration is multidimensional and one of the most difficult to resolve and manage. Virtual Enterprise Integration: Technological and Organizational Perspectives integrates the contributions by renowned international researchers and scientists and is virtually the first book focusing solely on the problem of virtual enterprise integration. This book is a guide that gives readers a broader perspective of VE integration requirements and raises their awareness on which technology and how technology can serve the needs of an expanding and increasingly competitive organizational model.

Providing material from recognised worldwide sources, this book presents the theory and evidence on electronic commerce and virtual business and examines the impact both outside and inside the business organisation.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused global shock to the entire economic system. As a result of the government restrictions, both production and distribution channels were interrupted. In this situation, however, it was possible to observe that some companies were able to adapt to these new conditions. The demand for the possibility of translating physical business into virtual increased. The COVID-19 restrictions showed that many entrepreneurs do not have enough knowledge about the available online tools and possibilities. Given that the digital transformation of business today often consists only of incorporating existing tools into existing processes, transition to e-commerce could be made easily and quickly. Moving Businesses Online and Embracing E-Commerce: Impact and Opportunities Caused by COVID-19 analyzes the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on business models of enterprises affected most by these restrictions and examines transformational changes induced by the accelerated adoption of internet technologies and transition to e-commerce-based business models. Covering topics such as customer relationship management (CRM), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and customer loyalty, this book serves as an essential resource for business owners, CEOs, managers, IT consultants, web developers, students, professors, entrepreneurs, researchers, industry professionals, and academicians.

"This book deals with risk management in enterprise network formations, stressing the importance of risk management in enterprises organized in networks followed by the presentation of the researcher suggested approaches which most of the time emphasizes in a supply chain"--Provided by publisher.

Towards collaborative business ecosystems Last decade was fertile in the emerging of new collaboration mechanisms and forms of dynamic virtual organizations, leading to the concept of dynamic business ecosystem, which is supported (or induced ?) by the progress of the ubiquitous I pervasive computing and networking. The new technologies, collaborative business models, and organizational forms supported by networking tools "invade" all traditional businesses and organizations what requires thinking in terms of whole systems, i. e. seeing each business as part of a wider economic ecosystem and environment. It is also becoming evident that the agile formation of very dynamic virtual organizations depends on the existence of a proper longer-term "embedding" or "nesting" environment (e. g. regional industry cluster), in order to guarantee certain basic requirements such as trust building ("Trusting your partner" is a gradual and long process); common interoperability, ontology, and distributed collaboration infrastructures; agreed business practices (requiring substantial engineering Ire-engineering efforts); a sense of community ("we vs. the others"), and some sense of stability (when is a dynamic state or a stationary state useful). The more frequent situation is the case in which this "nesting" environment is formed by organizations located in a common region, although geography is not a major facet when cooperation is supported by computer networks.

This work addresses eCommerce issues in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a global setting. It covers issues that are of importance to researchers, students, and professionals interested in the eCommerce field in SMEs.