CONCLUSION

The evidence from the case studies presented is that a virtual organisation is formed to facilitate collaboration using ICT globally and may be used to form alliances and or vertical integration. Companies wanting to form a virtual organisation should identify their primary purposes, so that the bottom-line impact of doing it can be identified.

In addition, the benefits and drawbacks of virtual organisation on business in current practice have also been examined. Numerous benefits have concern that must be addressed before implementing a successful virtual organisation. The areas to take note of are :

1. Organisational and cultural changes must be addressed
2. Members must develop a high degree of mutual trust and understanding
3. Technology must be integrated with people and business processes
4. People in the organisation must be empowered, so that they can add value to the company
5. Projects should be the focus of the corporation
6. Virtual organisation relationship must be abandoned when

• the company's strategic goals have been diverted;
• adequate levels of trust and openness cannot be achieve; no more added value can be obtained from doing so

Culture is another important factor that determines the success of a virtual organisation. In a virtual organisation, people work as peers or teams, rather than in a traditional hierarchy. Managers will no longer be on the top of the hierarchy; they need to work as team leaders, as facilitators that help coodinete and provides directions and focus instead of dictating requirements.

Virtual organisations are new and dynamic. Whilst further developments in the underlying ICT are likely to facilitate growth in virtual working, it will be the real business benefits that attract more companies to consider this new organisational form. Further work needs to be done in oerder to make clearer generalisations and provide guidelines for what are the key success factors.