ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Industrial production is now changing dramatically because competition is no longer just taking place among companies, but more among virtual organisations, forcing each network player to operate more efficiently than its competitors. Many management challenges in planning, co-ordinating, and supervising such dynamic operating virtual organisations have not been addressed so far. The reason is that these dynamic virtual organisations, which can also be considered as collaborative networks, represent an evolution of enterprise development which will be addressed in the ECOLEAD project It is believed that these management challenges must be addressed by powerful methods to leverage success of virtual organisations. The identification of challenges and management requirements in six case studies shows the tremendous practical needs for methods, concepts and tools to support the various European SME networks. SME-based virtual organisations clearly need governmental directives guiding them though their collaborative processes. For one case study about collaborative engineering, the management challenges will be discussed in detail. The paper concludes with a list of management aspects that must be addressed by research activities.
