The Agile Virtual Enterprise: Cases, Metrics, Tools [Hardcover]

In Agile Manufacturing: Forging New Frontiers I insisted (and I still do) that there were no agile firms. Also I was keen to point out that the notion that one could figure things out in advance and then design a strategy or an enterprise configuration based on this specification was, dead in the water. This approach simply does not work well when one is faced with significant change and uncertainty. In this kind of environment a whole new approach is needed. Ted Goranson's book makes a significant contribution to the development of this new way of working.

To be found in Ted's book are accounts of the development of virtual enterprise from the days of whaling and the importance of trust, lightweight agreements and case law in supporting the formation of agile virtual enterprises. Also to be found are discussions on what agility is and what agility is not, and why agility is important, along with comments about how agility relates to flexibility, electronic commerce and lean production. There is a detailed Agile Virtual Enterprise Reference Model and also descriptions of some agile virtual enterprise practices based on a number of case studies. From these case studies comes confirmation that agility tends to be isolated within specific parts of a firm and is often fortuitous and unplanned. These agile practices are not institutionalised and are not part of some grand agility strategy.

The book makes an important contribution to measuring agility. There is a detailed description of a modelling technique, based on communicative acts, that allows one to generate simple metrics that one can use to establish and compare the agility of different candidate processes that form part of the Agile Virtual Enterprise Reference Model. This is a novel and useful development.

This book contains a lot of substantial material and is very stimulating. The only minor point of criticism is that the description of flexibility does not make use of the frameworks and literature on that subject. I believe this would have helped to improve the positioning of agility in relation to flexibility. However, the theory of agility is still very much in the early stages of development, and this omission just highlights the fact that a significant amount of work still remains to be done on the development of agility theory.

I have no reservations about recommending this book. This is the first time that I have been able to do so, because quite frankly, most of the other books dealing with the topic of agility are embarrassments and do nothing at all to recommend the topic to industry managers. Ted Goranson's book is a milestone in the development of the topic and should help people to better understand the subject, as well as help them to deal with the real and pressing problem of unexpected change.

Paul T. Kidd

This book makes a difference, saying that agility is about managing dynamic change and what consequences this has for the entire company management.

Ted Goranson does a great job in giving the reader strong pictures and cases about Agility first. But he does not simply stay with some (war-)story telling. Instead he ventures to develop general concepts and models with scientific rigour.

Linking his models to existing mainstream theories and some innovative developments allows him to show, what agility is - and what it is not.

And it allows him to trace the consequences of becoming agile into such distinct management functions as corporate finance, human resource management, manufacturing and innovation or information systems.

A book invaluable for all, who plan to apply the concept of agility and even more for those who develop methods, tools and system to support agile enterprises.

I am personally using it as a reference for establishing in Brazil a Virtual Organization as well as for my under and post-graduation courses.

I highly recommend this book for people who really intend and need a strong basys for working with agility and virtualness.

Congratulations for Ted Goranson for this excellent work.