A collection of separate companies, each with specific expertise, sharing expertise to compete for bigger contracts/projects is known as a?

• A. Virtual Company
• B. Virtual Supply Chain
• C. Enterprise Wide System
• D. Management Information System

Answer: (A)

A virtual company is a network of independent firms that pool their distinct capabilities to win and deliver large projects. Each company stays legally separate, but they collaborate closely, sharing expertise, resources, and risk under a common goal. This arrangement lets them tackle contracts that no single firm could handle alone, leveraging diverse strengths such as engineering, procurement, and project management. Information and communications technology, joint governance, and aligned timelines keep the alliance coordinated as if it were a single entity, even though it’s temporary and project-specific.

The other concepts don’t fit this description. A virtual supply chain focuses on coordinating the flow of goods and services across multiple firms, but not on forming a formal, temporary alliance that competes for contracts as one entity. An enterprise wide system is a single organization’s integrated software for internal operations, not a coalition of separate firms. A management information system is the reporting and decision-support framework within one organization, not a network of independent companies teaming up.