3 Types and Characteristics of Existing Enterprise Management Project
Currently, management project enterprise mainly includes three kinds: Partnering operation, the virtual enterprise (AVE), Project-oriented enterprise. Following are the analysis of three kind’s business model.
The definitions of representative partnering are mainly in the following categories:
(1) Watt, L. (1999) thinks that the partnering of operation is two or more organizations in order to meet the specific business interests and achieve the long-term agreement in order to make each other's resources to play even greater resource efficiency. In order to achieve the agreed sharing of partner-type operate, the enterprise often need to go beyond traditional organizational boundaries. Partnering of project management is the construction of models based on trust, and spares no effort on common goals for each participating partner-style project management, understands the value of the individual members. Expected benefits of partnering include improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness, improving opportunities for innovation and promoting product and improving service quality.
(2) the Army Corps of Engineers in USA thinks that the partnering of business is an innovative to facilitate the realization of mutual goals and interests while the relationship between owners and contractors (Yang, M.M.H. 1994), it needs to reach an agreement, the agreement in principle includes both sides to share the risks arising from implementation of the project and to actively develop and promote an environment of cooperation. Partnering of business means that the project involved major participation in the contract between the parties to establish a cooperative management team. The team focused on common goals and interests through the implementing of contracts and development of certain procedures to obtain these goals. Partnering of project management means to exert leadership on this project team.
(3) Students Wang Mingde and Liao Jixun from Taiwan translated partnering into co-management, and the partnering definition in their study is following: co-management encourage communication between the engineering team to enhance understanding and trust in each other, and all the participants in the traditional engineering projects in the hostile relations into a collaborative team relationships, establish risk-sharing, sharing the team concept in order to avoid disputes arise, and to promote the achievement of mutual goals(Wong, S.L. 1996).
Partnering characteristics:
First, the partnering of enterprise is based on trust. Trust is one of the basic elements of partnering in operation. To form a joint working group is not possible if suspected of other participating companies’ motives. Only a good relationship is established in order to understand each other better through negotiation and exchange of business, it can generate trust through understanding and only trust can produce a holistic effect. Trust is the basis of partnering enterprise and it can transform hostile relations into relations of mutual cooperation with trust. To establish a relationship of trust and continue to strengthen all levels of project implementation, including project senior managers involved in the parties, project managers and the department of grass-roots work involved in the project.
Secondly, the partnering of enterprise needs to reach long-term agreement. Although the partnering of enterprise is often used in a single project, but partnership-style project management model in a number of projects is a development trend (Wong, S.L. 1985). Long-term cooperation will be more partners in the enterprise through long-term agreements between enterprises.
Thirdly, partnering enterprises needs to establish a common goal. Although in the project, the parties have different objectives and interests, or even contradictions and conflicts in some aspects, a enterprise pursuits the maximization profit, they hope to take the pay from project as quickly as possible and as much as possible (Ng, R.M.C. 1998), the project risk determines the conflicts of interest. However, in the implementation process of project, the parties still have many common interests. Such as they can reduce the risk of the project by improving the safety of the project, which is benefit for all parties involved. Partnering operates by discussion, coordination, communication, and establishment of a common goal in the project. Giving full consideration to the interests of the parties involved to ensure that the project under control.
Fourth, partnering could achieve an efficient information and communication. In partnering, information on the participating companies is open. Information is transited and conversed accurately and efficiently between participates in time. Processing of decision-making needs of information exchange, timely information improves the efficiency.
At present there are several main definitions about virtual enterprise.
(l) Kenneth • Prius and Steven Goldman explored of virtual enterprises for the first time, they have made a agile manufacturing mode base on virtual enterprise, that is selection of partners according core competencies and reputation to form dynamic alliances in order to enhance the overall competitiveness of enterprises and improving organizational agility to adapt to environmental change and to meet customer needs (Redding, G. 1993).
(2) John Byrne defined the virtual enterprise in the "Business Week" as: the virtual enterprise is the relationship between alliance partners, and it is no clear organizational structure, but a temporary network posed by the number of independent companies connected by information technology and sharing technology, cost, and other markets (Russel Hodge John 1995). He also pointed out two important features for the virtual enterprise: First is temporary, that is, once the initial objectives of the Alliance are achieved, the dynamic alliance that is dissolved by itself. The second is that the virtual enterprise is built based on credit.
(3) Harris, L.C. and Ogbonna, E (1995) defined the virtual enterprise from the core abilities as: virtual enterprise is a core group as the center, it implements key features, and the remaining features are completed by temporary or contract employees or by an alliance formed with the core organization and other organizations.
Virtual enterprise has the following characteristics:
(l) Enterprise Property Virtualization. As the enterprise managers and technical staff groups continuously improve corporate control, the ownership is no longer belonged to the absolute owner of the possession, property rights have become virtual and blurred.
(2) Enterprise management functions Virtualization. Virtual enterprise makes a gradual differentiation of peeling in management functions within the enterprise. Management is not entirely a part of the responsibilities of the enterprise functions of the task, but shared with other companies.
(3) Enterprise organizational structure virtualization. Traditional enterprise group is linear, hierarchical and there are some obstacles because of the functions of over-refinement and middle management staff, transmission of information effectiveness at the senior and junior ranks or at the same level and between the various functional departments (Berger, S. and Lester, R. (eds) 1997). Virtual enterprise used integration of external resources strategies through co-operation with the outside and eliminating some of the production processes or other organizations link to achieve the streamlining of organizational structure of enterprises, resulting in multi-enterprise organization structure is composed of two or more companies, it is no longer a completely separate entity. Virtual enterprise need to have a stable outsourcing networks in order to change the combinations to suit specific needs at any time in diversification of production.
(4) Business technology virtualization. Enterprises begin to virtual manufacturing process according to market information once produce a product, the first is virtual human resources, the human resources and external enterprises human resources complement each other based on their own strengths and weaknesses (Bond, M. 1986,Bond, M. 1991).A number of corporate executives from different enterprises constitute the development team by information networks in collaboration division of a particular research or technical innovation. As the disintegration of virtual enterprise, the career comes from different companies and legal persons in relation to partnerships come to an end, so these members are the key of the success of virtual enterprise.
(5) Core competencies in their respective areas. Members of the alliance only focus on their most competitive business, virtual enterprise has a unique competitive advantage through integration of all members of the core competencies and resources, in management, technology, resources, in order to achieve win-win situation objectives and obtain greater opportunities through sharing of market opportunities and customers.
(6) The main management mode of virtual enterprise is project management and horizontal management. Project management develops from traditional mode to infiltrate business operations and marketing project management and other business areas. The traditional group-based project management is a process-oriented way. Virtual project management is based on the results-oriented. Project management and virtual enterprises have a lot of common points and the combination of them can produce the advantage that traditional management does not own. Project management explained the control process, while the horizontal management stress a kind of division of labor models to each task block-based collaboration. With the widespread application of computer technology, the traditional middle layer of oversight and coordination function is weakening gradually and it will be replaced by computer networks. Corporate strategic management and task execution layer will replace the traditional vertical management by achieving communication through computer networks eventually.
Project-oriented enterprises are mainly defined as following:
(1) project-oriented enterprises are those enterprise pursuit a specific project results that takes the project structure as the main forms of organization, such enterprises need to complete the complex , non-programmable tasks ,require a variety of temporary experts with skilled and asked them co-operation with each other.
(2) project-oriented enterprises are typical business model, that is, enterprises provide customers with products or services by completing the project delivery methods. Selection and implementation of projects in such companies reflects the corporate marketing strategy. Tracking the implementation of all projects company, they can take full advantage of the overall state of their business operations.
Main features of the project-oriented enterprises:
(l) Project-oriented company focused on high-tech industrial projects. project-oriented enterprises mainly take the creative project development and management as the basis, mainly including IT, bio-pharmaceuticals, modern manufacturing, modern agriculture and finance, insurance, securities, training, consulting, and other services, of course, including the construction industry and public infrastructure-building, the concrete form is some construction companies, but the business is mainly engaged in some of the more mature standard, small uncertainty projects.
(2) The ability project-oriented enterprises are innovation.
Project-oriented enterprises can guide the demand and create demand and service demand better only by maintaining a strong innovate ability, and constantly introducing new products and services. Project-oriented enterprises often take the project team’s collaboration and innovation as the basis to form a unique culture of innovation, and be able to lead many enterprises to promote industrial development.
(3) Development of project-oriented enterprise’s enterprises is fast
Project-oriented enterprises can capture the fleeting business opportunities rapidly, and establish a strong business network, it has strong business development capabilities to promote business grow at very high speed through a successful operation of a project.
(4) Capability of project-oriented enterprise knowledge management
Project-oriented enterprises can accumulate project experience continually,and change personal knowledge capital into the organization's intellectual capital, develop a strong intangible assets of business through effective operations, carries on effective group learning and the whole process of learning. Project-oriented enterprise’s production and operation activities cannot be completed by a single person who used a single type of knowledge, while it needs collaborative efforts by expert who have different types of knowledge. Such a concerted effort not only creates personal knowledge, but also creates public knowledge that different from the personal knowledge, that is collaborative knowledge. Therefore, the project-oriented enterprise knowledge resources include original stock knowledge of the individual employee, newly personal knowledge and public knowledge that created collaboration. These three kinds of knowledge often exist in the minds of organizational members and this knowledge constituted the basis that a competitive business got a sustainable competitive advantage in a changing environment.
For the project-oriented enterprises in the new business environment, good capabilities of knowledge management can reduce the operation and management risks caused by business-critical brain drain, innovate, accumulate knowledge effectively, and maintain the innovative capacity of enterprises (Bond, M. and Hwang, K. 1986).
(5) Capability of project-oriented enterprise project management
Project-oriented enterprise development is based on the project that the correct choice or not, and project management level laree determined of the company's fate. These enterprises focus on project management models of application and development, focus on the dialectical relationship of project management and business development. Projects and corporate strategy are closely related.
(6) The enterprise culture plays a central role in the project-oriented enterprises
The project-oriented company's largest capita is knowledge-based team, while the knowledge-based team’s biggest capital is knowledge workers, knowledge workers have the culture with characteristics of autonomy, creativity and mobility, integrity, aggressive, communication, collaboration, services, and open corporate. Strengthen the building of enterprise culture play a core role in promoting corporate cohesion to meet the challenges.