The Diffusion of New Collaborative Approaches in Technology Intensive Contexts: Literature Analysis and Empirical Evidences on Virtual and Extended Enterprise Models

In the first essay I reviewed the literature on these two models in a systematic way considering contributes published on ISI certificated journals. The review allowed understanding of the main literature gaps. In particular, a lack of empirical studies testing the theoretical evidences in potential real cases of virtual and extended enterprise clearly emerged. It is to partially fill these gaps that the second and third essays have been conceived. The second essay focuses on a network of SMEs. It aims at analyse the virtualisation potential of this network through a questionnaire survey. The third essay investigates the extended enterprise concept in the aerospace supply system. A single case study analysis has been conducted on the Airbus A380 case.