Knowledge Assets in Virtual Enterprises: Sources of Risk and Management Issues

Due to the characteristics of the modern economy (such as the diffusion of Information And Communication Technologies ICT, the increasing global competition, and the complexity of innovation processes), even the largest firms can’t operate in isolation, but are embedded into international networks of relationships. For this reason, there have been significant efforts in the economic and managerial disciplines to identify the rising models of inter-organisational relationships, to describe their economic functioning, and to propose managerial guidelines. One of the models that have received significant attention is that of companies organised in the form of a Virtual Enterprise (VE). This model (whose definition will be discussed later in the paper) refers to large networks of companies that join in temporary but often repetitive relationships around a common business project. This model of intercompany collaboration may appear particularly appropriate in the current economy, which demands ABSTRACT