[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

3 e-business models for virtual organizations
3.1 Introduction
The mystery of Tao:
‘That which cannot be seen is formless’.
(The sayings of Lao Zi)
Virtual organizations obviously have a need for business
models, which are different from the traditional, but there is no
one single business model that is appropriate to all forms of
virtual enterprise. Different organizations will require different
business models and these will reflect the extent and strength of
their interorganizational links within their networked alliances.
In the most basic sense, a business model is the method of doing
business by which an organization can best sustain itself – which
in most cases means generating revenue. The selected business
model will therefore be that which spells out how the organization
positions itself within the value chain in order to make
financial return.
e-business has given rise to many new kinds of business model
but has also allowed organizations to reinvent some. One of the
most obvious cases is that of the auction model. eBay did not
invent this model but merely reapplied one of the oldest
business models in existence. Popularization of this model has
broadened its application on the Web to a wide array of goods
and services. A number of other forms of model exist and these
typically reflect the e-business strategy, i.e. how the organization
intends to create an online community. However, there are also
models which reflect the strategic structure of the virtual
organization. These models relate to the virtual culture adopted
by the organization and the communication linkages within the