SMEs in the 21 century have to cope with an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment. In order to work effectively within this environment, SMEs have to collaborate with other enterprises in forms of virtual organisations. Despite the increased interest in the area of virtual organisation collaboration, useful information is still lacking about the risk sources of virtual organisation, where the enterprise face more complicated risk threats than those in traditional enterprise due to the new form of relationships between partners. The aim of this research was to identify a risk management contribution where this research has identified key areas of risk that SMEs are likely to face when working collaboratively in VO. It also enables SMEs to understand the relative importance of these risks. A further contribution is made by use of tools (ISM and ANP) to enable SMEs to understand the inter-relationships of risk sources. Multiple analysis techniques provide triangulation of analysis results, leading to validation of results. The secondary research showed all of the risk sources identified in the relevant literature and some of the relationships between them, whilst the primary research addressed all of the direct and indirect relationships using the Interpretive Structural Modeling. Also the primary data sources from the questionnaires and the case study shed light on the relative importance of these sources using the Analytical Network Process. Areas for further research are suggested to close the gaps and to continue enriching the research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:628898 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Alawamhleh, M. J. A. |
| Publisher | Coventry University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/4f411c47-9960-ab75-4f2f-852581d150fe/1 |
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