Virtual Enterprise In order to respond to rapidly changing market basic structure of an organizatio n needs to reconfigured.

Just one organization with a single integrated manufacturing syste ms cannot fulfill the changing need of the market and survive. Today with virtual Integration one manufacturer can make the design while the other can manufacture the product. This is particu larly helpful to harness the competencies of the different enterprises which can assist the fi rm with their ability to reduce the overall cost and addition of more values into the final pr oduct. But in order to work with the partner firm , company needs to align their business strategies , vision and manufacturing philosophies with partner company. Business strategies of the par tner company may be significantly different from main producer which may create conflicts hen ce before going into the virtual partnerships company should make sure that they share a c ommon vision and manufacturing philosophy and work with collaboration with each other to achi eve a common goal. Cross functional workforce In order to respond to the changing market condition , elimination of waste or t he activities which does not add value to the product has to be minimized. Cross functional wo rk force involves people from all the department in early stage of product development. I ntegration of the work force on a common platform to reduce the waste elimination and adding v alues leads to development of a system where the fault is recognized well in advance. Volati le and turbulent change in customer demand requires high degree of involvement from various depa rtments like marketing , operation , finance, services etc to make changes in product design and assuring the

best quality. Information technology plays a key role in integrating the supplie rs , marketing, finance , personnel departments and finally the customers to work for a common g oal i.e. to produce a world class product and adapt to the frequently changing market condit ions. Postponement Preparation of the production plan should be driven by the actual or the real ti me customer demand not by the demand which is forecasted taking the past data. Decoupling po int is the point in the manufacturing system where the actual customer demand penetrates in the p roduction plan. Knowledge of the decoupling point is very essential as it shows the point where product can be stored and supplied as semi finished goods in generic form to the warehou ses. Final product can be assembled or prepared from the this generic semi finished product s based on the requirement of customers. Preparation of products in modular or components not o nly saves the inventory costs but also helps the organization to respond to turbulent changing needs of the customer. Strategic partnership and alliance Response to agile market lies on the quality of relationship with the key suppli ers of the organization. Although it is not possible to create good relations with each sup plier through process integration but it is required to identify limited number of important s upplier whose business strategies can be synchronized with the organization. Supplier and orga nization should agree on certain level of information sharing which can be data related t o marketing or operational strategies. It is vital for both supplier and organization to see ea ch other as vital link in achieving a shared goal and vision to achieve high level of customer sa tisfaction. Thus

organization needs to form a channel of strategic suppliers or vendors which can develop good connectivity and form a collaborative team to face the volatile market with mutu al commitment and synergy Embracing changes Change in market and customer demand is the key reason for any firm to follow th e agile strategies. In order to survive in the fiercely competitive market, changes in b usiness strategies , technology and organizational behavior is very important. Firm needs to sense an d anticipate the change in the customer needs and wants and then react and recover from the c hange by changing one or more elements of organization structure like production ,market ing or operation strategies. There has to be certain degree of flexibility and quickness to impro ve the production processes which needs to be supported by innovation and strategic vision of the organization. Innovation Adaptive capability of any organization prompt the organization to follow the in novative practices and develop an environment which facilitates the people to explore th e new possibilities in every aspect of business. Innovation in supply chain and produc t development is crucial to compete in volatile and changing market. Firm needs to frequently change the operational , production or marketing strategies to be an agile firm so as to un derstand the customer wants and gain the operational excellence by developing a top class pro duct and improve the market share. Organizational and People issues Organization needs to be reconfigured whenever it is demanded in uncertain marke t conditions. For an organization to be responsive and agile it should encourage the team work and develop

partnership with supplier with mutually distributed business functions. Organiza tion should be flexible enough to develop mutually shared vision with the supplier and work for common objectives. Organization should be knowledge driven. For a knowledge driven env ironment organizational policies should promote the training and development of the emplo yees and reward the employees which excel others in achieving their goals and initiate in novation in the work place. Development of a matrix organizational structure and employee empowe rment in a cross functional teamwork makes an organization more responsive to the uncertain market and gain competitive advantages over the peers.