Partnership management within the virtual enterprise in a network

The authors propose a new management method which integrates a behavioural approach and an instrumental approach in order to answer the managerial challenges of the virtual corporation. The concept of virtual corporation, developed as an organizational theory in the United States, is gaining more ground. Communication techniques are becoming more powerful and promising. The virtual corporation has emerged as an answer to new competitive economic constraints, to offer the possibility to grasp opportunities in transitional markets. However, if the flexibility of this new organizational model constitutes the key for corporation survival, its management method is far from easy because it must combine fluidity and control, strong partnership relations and short life expectancy, differences and cohesion. They look into this real management method for the new virtual corporations.