Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

144About extended enterprises, value chains networksand new requirements for e –workLeopold Reif, H<strong>of</strong>fmann+Reif Consultancy, GermanyAbstractThere are no boundaries on the Internet. Informated business processes can reach beyond thecorporation’s confines and include both customers and suppliers. Electronic marketplaces becomecross-organizational platforms. Complexity increases, and new demands on the e-worker arise.Everyone in the extended enterprise becomes an e-worker, because everyone is connected andcollaborates in a space (not a place) <strong>of</strong> virtual networks. E-workers are enabled through newknowledge building applications and capture, represent and consume knowledge in a constanttime-flow. E-workers are knowledge workers. They capture, represent and consume knowledge ina direct mode. The dynamic environments they are working in do not allow any time consumingintermediaries between knowledge and self.”The hype goes, the Internet grows”The new economy is stumbling and ailing. The crisis is not over yet, but for the net <strong>of</strong> the netsthe last 2 years have been just two additional years <strong>of</strong> exponential growth. Start-ups and dot.comsdisappear, but there is no standstill for the constant flow <strong>of</strong> corporate rationalization exploitingInternet applications. The Internet has become the ubiquitous application and communicationsplatform for the informated business processes.Now corporations go a step further. With the help <strong>of</strong> the Internet they extend their businessprocesses beyond their confines and link them tightly with the organisations <strong>of</strong> their suppliers,partners, customers and sometimes even with their competitors. Corporations become extendedenterprises, create value-chain-networks and value-chain-communities and enjoy a rationalisationpotential never experienced before.Extended enterprises: requirements and solutionsIn the automobile industry close cooperation with suppliers has a long tradition. Today theextended enterprise goes further and create seamless informated networks along the entire valuechain, including not only suppliers but also partners and customers. The focused enterprisehas outsourced extensively and is thus highly depended on partners. In order to cope with theincreasing complexity <strong>of</strong> a focused business with a high dependency on partnership, e-businessplatforms such as e-marketplaces have been introduced.