One of the most striking characteristics of the VE is its opportunistic nature.Enterprises may use the VE strategy to meet unexpected change and unforeseen events andthis way become agile. One of the beneficial results is that unused capacities or planned overcapacitycan be made productive. To cope with the momentary unavailability of a particulartype of capability, a VE will include several members with similar capabilities (redundancy).This is opposed to the concept of lean structure, but it will help the VE itself to achieveagility (Goranson, 1999).These characteristics distinguish the VE from a more long-term inter-organisationalstructure, such as the Supply Chain or the Extended Enterprise (Browne et al., 1995, Jagdevand Thoben 2001).