First, the characteristics of virtual enterprises
Virtual enterprise refers to an enterprise organization form that is quickly established for transmitting and managing information across geographical space with the support of computer network. Its characteristics are as follows:
1. The technical basis of virtual enterprise operation is computer network. The inherent requirements of the new stage of market economy development and the maturity of network technology have laid the foundation for the emergence of virtual enterprises. It can be said that without network technology, there would be no virtual enterprise.
2. The tissue is invisible. Although there are functions such as production, design, operation and finance, there is no organization within the enterprise to perform these functions, and the management is completely realized by computer virtual reality scenes, such as virtual banks and virtual bookstores.
3. The dispersion of alliance members. The subject of virtual enterprise is completely based on network and does not exist in physical space. Enterprises all over the world can become members of the virtual enterprise alliance. Although the employees of these enterprises do not work in an office building, they can independently complete their tasks for the same goal, thus achieving the highest goal of the alliance. It can be said that it is scattered and distracted.
4. The short-term nature of existence. The combination and decentralization of all parties show great flexibility. In order to seize a market opportunity, enterprises can unite quickly, concentrate their scattered advantages and seize the market opportunity quickly. Once the goal is achieved, the virtual enterprise will be dissolved.
Second, compared with entity enterprises, the advantages of virtual enterprises are analyzed
1. Efficient management. Entity enterprise management is vertical, that is, top leaders-middle leaders-grassroots employees. The intentions of senior leaders are conveyed by middle-level leaders, and the opinions of grass-roots employees are fed back by middle-level leaders, who play an important role in uploading, distributing, coordinating and supervising. At the same time, there is a strict hierarchical relationship between employees at all levels of the enterprise, which restricts the creativity of employees to a certain extent and reduces the enthusiasm of grassroots employees to participate in enterprise management. Virtual enterprise eliminates complex intermediate organizations, reduces management levels, expands management scope, and the functions of middle-level leaders are replaced by networks, resulting in flat management. This flat management makes all members of the enterprise have greater relative freedom and independence, greatly arouses the enthusiasm of employees, and the information transmission is completed in an instant, which ensures the company to capture market information in time, solve problems quickly and improve work efficiency.
2. The global business risk is very small. In order to realize global operation, entity enterprises not only have to face various problems such as high cost, slow information feedback, difficult personnel management and difficult market adaptation, but also face complicated foreign laws, regulations and government policies that are difficult to adapt, and the risk of transnational operation is very great. Virtual enterprises can carry out business activities around the world through telecommunication networks, quickly combine different resources to complete product design, production and sales, and use a large number of advanced network applications to expand the virtual sales market of enterprises, thus greatly reducing the transaction costs of enterprises; The timely capture of all kinds of information enables virtual enterprises to take countermeasures in time and reduce risks; At the same time, dynamic alliance can maximize the resource advantages of allies in different countries, ultimately reduce business risks and maximize corporate profits.
3. Enjoy advanced technology. In the era of knowledge economy, mastering advanced technology is a necessary condition for enterprises to stand on the international market, while proprietary technology and related technologies are confidential. Often an enterprise's technology can only be enjoyed by one enterprise, while other enterprises have to buy it at a high price if they want to buy it. In this way, it is difficult to gather all scattered technologies together and create new value for the development of enterprises. Virtual enterprise is an alliance composed of all parties with resource advantages, and all parties in the alliance can complete their respective tasks while protecting their own intellectual property rights. As a result of the cooperation of these specialized alliances, the secret technologies of several enterprises are brought together to create value for virtual enterprises and greatly improve their competitiveness.
4. Rapid market response. In the face of the ever-changing international market, entity enterprises with complex structures are increasingly unable to collect information, seize market opportunities and meet the individual needs of consumers. Relying on network technology, virtual enterprises always maintain a high degree of response to the market, keep up with market changes, respond quickly when the market just changes, and meet market demand in a timely and efficient manner.
5. Flexible organization. The organizational structure of entity enterprises is complex and relatively stable. When a department in an enterprise no longer needs to exist, the enterprise is faced with difficult organizational structure adjustment, and the internal contradictions brought about by personnel changes and post adjustments often have a negative impact on the overall development of the enterprise. Virtual enterprise is a dynamic consortium, and all parties in the alliance are connected through the cooperation of projects and dispersed through the completion of tasks, so there is no difficulty in stripping off a certain part at all.
Second, the difficulties faced by virtual enterprises
Virtual enterprise is not perfect, and the establishment of virtual enterprise is by no means a fashion. Enterprises must realize that virtual operation also has considerable risks. For example, Amazon Bookstore, a world-famous e-commerce pioneer, suffered a financial loss of 1 USD. While 8848, the largest online shopping website in China, suffered a financial loss of 1 USD. In 2000, it was1500 million. Therefore, a clear understanding of the difficulties in virtual enterprise management is very necessary for us to better engage in and develop virtual enterprise management.
1. Logistics distribution is difficult. Virtual enterprise enjoys absolute advantages in information flow, but it faces great difficulties in logistics distribution, such as high distribution cost, high storage cost and imperfect distribution channels. For example, Lenovo 1999 officially set foot in e-commerce, and the number of products and customers increased dramatically, making distribution more and more difficult. However, the toy website "eToys" in the United States has seen a large influx of Christmas orders, poor coordination of logistics and distribution, and even customers' delay in receiving goods, which eventually led to a decline in stock prices. Virtual enterprise must realize that although it effectively replaces some value activities of traditional enterprises, logistics is irreplaceable.
2. It is difficult to establish a unified corporate culture. Modern enterprises are increasingly aware that the most important competitiveness of enterprises is no longer the factory buildings, equipment and products themselves, but the information management system, innovation ability, corporate culture and so on. The formation of corporate culture takes a long time, and employees need to form * * * knowledge, so Qi Xin can work together. However, it is extremely difficult for virtual enterprises to form their corporate culture because of their short existence, scattered workplaces and complex members. Even if a consistent corporate culture is formed, its role will be greatly reduced.
3. Eliminate user conflicts. The rise of e-commerce not only changes the traditional trading relationship, but also makes online fraud easier. For example, Matthew Bowen, a young black man who defrauded $6.5438+0.9 million in the United States, was deceived because he spread false information on the Internet and advocated the company's bright future. At the beginning of 200 1, Meng set up an eye-catching website on the internet, claiming that investors could get a 24% yield by buying one of his certificates of deposit of Royal Vertex Bank, and defrauded 7.2 million US dollars. In order to obtain economic benefits, network operators take actions such as tracking users privately, prying into others' privacy and revealing users' information, which seriously affects users' normal lives and even causes great economic losses to users. The first warning issued by China Consumers Association to online life is "Be careful that your personal data becomes a tool for others to infringe your rights and interests". Internet fraud and privacy concerns of online consumption have led many potential consumers to resist e-commerce.
4. Online shopping is difficult to pay. Virtual enterprises engaged in e-commerce activities inevitably involve payment, but China has not really solved the problem of online payment, forming a situation in which online shopping is easy to pay. For example, some virtual enterprises use online shopping, and consumers remit money to the post office, which increases the efforts of shoppers and leads to the decline of customer value, thus reducing the market competitiveness of products. Many domestic manufacturers want to push their products to the international market, but in the case of online commodity information, the payment problem cannot be solved.
Fourth, countermeasures.
In view of the advantages of virtual enterprises and the difficulties they face in operation, the author thinks that the following measures should be taken to promote the healthy development of virtual enterprises in China.
(A) the government should take measures to create a good external development environment.
1. Accelerate the construction of relevant laws and regulations and protect the privacy rights of network users by legal means. So far, there are no special laws and regulations to regulate the right to privacy in e-commerce, but in view of the great threat to personal privacy brought by the development of information network, countries have made great progress in strengthening the legal protection of online privacy. For example, the electronic communication privacy law specified by the United States in 1986 and so on. China should pay attention to the trends and trends of international legislation, learn from its experience and gradually establish China's network privacy protection law. For cyber fraudsters and hackers, governments of all countries should work together to strengthen the crackdown and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers; On the one hand, we should strengthen publicity and education, enhance the awareness of protecting the personal data of network users, and eliminate some users' internet phobia.
2. Strengthen the development of electronic banking. In order to realize online payment of virtual enterprises, banks must change the traditional service mode, strengthen the development of e-banking and popularize e-money. At present, many countries have done a lot of work in this regard. For example, an important aspect of the "Golden Card Project" in China is the electronization and networking of banks in the electronic money exercise jointly promoted by 20 Japanese credit card holders. The popularization and use of electronic money will completely solve the problem of online payment.