Time and the virtual supply chain

Summary form only given. Recently the term `virtual supply network´ has been used to describe temporary groupings of organizations operating together facilitated by technology to produce goods or services for a marketplace. Organizations are participating in virtual supply networks (VSNs) as they are theorized as offering a more flexible, responsive structure to conventional approaches. For example, a VSN is supposed to shorten product development and manufacturing cycle time, This paper begins by examining the concepts of `virtual´ and `time´ in manufacturing and continues by detailing a case where the creation of a VSN could be perceived to be an optimal strategy to telescope the time taken to carry out operations. The author explores the type of network envisaged and the processes involved in trying to set it up. She then tries to explain why the organization failed to realize its strategy and possible outcomes, concluding that ironically, the reason the concept was not implemented was due to a lack of time