Can virtual enterprises build up an own identity?

Virtual enterprise is currently a prominent label for a kind of social structure, inside of which commercial and other activities are organized. Nevertheless it is uncertain if this kind of structure is an organization or not. The loosely coupled communication structure which characterizes the essential feature of a virtual enterprise enables a high degree of flexibility but undermines the system´s coherence. How virtual enterprises handle this problem is the subject of an empirical longitudinal study and the content of this paper. The project was set up to find out if virtual enterprises really can be prototypes of a successful kind of business in a globalized world market and society. Our main topic was whether the inherent social and organizational forces of a virtual enterprise hold it together or make it fall apart. Is a virtual enterprise only a special form of social network, or is it an organizational social system with its own identity, organizational memory and a self-description allowing it to be distinguished from its environment? The starting assumption was, despite their contingent network-structure, virtual enterprises have to build up their own identity if they want to survive. We assumed that this could only happen by incorporating an internal formal organizational structure and expected an aggravating contradiction between loose and strict couplings which would question the essential character of virtual enterprises. But our observations have revealed an unexpected solution.