Abstract
The phenomenon of the enterprise organizational reconfiguration and its dynamics as a business alignment enabler is discussed. Business alignment means the enterprise's actions undertaken to gain synergy between the business; that is, the market opportunity and the provision of the required, or innovative, product, with the required, or designed, specifications at the required, or proper, time, with the lowest cost and best possible return (financial or other). The enterprise's organization "fast reconfiguration," either as a proactive or as a reactive action, or "fast adaptation" or "flexibility" (as a "reactive" action), is seen as the main enabler of business alignment and the main requirement for achieving competitiveness. The need to keep a close alignment with the dynamic market environment in permanent change implies the high dynamics of the organizations' organization, or organizational structure, reconfiguration. The first part of the text presents enterprise's requirements for competitiveness and business alignment, while the second part discusses the phenomenon of the enterprise reconfigurability as the business alignment enabler. In the third part, an analysis of some organizational and management approaches, from the reconfigurability point of view, is presented. The text ends with a conclusion and references. © 2007, Idea Group Inc.

Abstract
This paper describes an order planning system for dynamic supply chains, addressing the requirements of a make-to-order business environment. A distributed and decentralized information system based on an architecture of agents and extensively using the internet was designed and implemented, so as to enable new and more powerful decision support. The system aims at responding to the basic requirements of cooperativeness, integration and configurability. It was developed under the scope of the IST European Project Co-OPERATE and implements the functionality defined in the context of the 'request feasibility studies for the network' (ReFS) business solution.

Abstract
In this paper we present a Decision Support System (DSS) to deal with the partner selection problem taking place in the formation or re-organization of a Virtual Enterprise (VE). This DSS is based on a multi-criteria model and handles several types of data (numerical, interval, linguistic and binary). This approach is used to facilitate the expression of the decision maker's preferences and assessments about the potential partners and can be performed individually or by group. The system also allows the assignment of a degree of confidence to each linguistic statement. the operation of the DSS is structured in two phases. In the first phase it determines the set of non-dominated alternatives (potential VEs) through the use of meta-heuristics. The second phase ranks the alternatives for a possible network of enterprises configuring the VE. This is achieved through a procedure based on linguistic analysis and distance measures.

Abstract
One major practical problem when applying traditional metaheuristics seems to be their strong dependency on parameter tuning. This issue is frequently pointed out as a major shortcoming of metaheuristics and is often a reason for Decision-Makers to reject using this type of approach in practical situations. In this paper we present a new search strategy - Constraint Oriented Neighbourhoods - that tries to overcome the referred drawback. The aim is to control the grade of randomness of metaheuristics, by defining "special" neighbourhood movements, that lead to a more robust heuristic, less dependent on parameter tuning. This is achieved by selecting and applying particular movements that take into account the potential violation of problem constraints. The strategy is illustrated in a real problem arising in the area of Power Systems Management - the Unit Commitment Problem, the computational experiments on a set of problem instances systematically outperforming those presented in the literature, both in terms of efficiency, quality of the solution and robustness of the algorithm.

Abstract
New forms of collaboration emerged as response to transformations of the business environment and the rapid information and communication technologies developments. In this context, collaborative networks rise as a powerful mechanism to achieve strategic objectives in a time response, quality and cost effective manner. The aim of this paper is to present the most relevant challenges concerning collaborative networks paradigm analysis, and to advance a multi-perspective approach on collaborative networks (technological, semantic, social and business perspective), emphasizing the importance of the business view that allows collaborative networks to be regarded as combinations of inter- and intra-enterprise business processes. Balance Scorecard is seen as a powerful tool which can guarantee the strategic and business goal alignment within the network.

Abstract
The rapid evolution of the markets and the changing client's demands determined enterprises to adapt their business from traditional business practices to e-business, and new forms of collaboration (such as supply chain enterprises, extended enterprises or virtual enterprises) were created. Technologies such as Peer-to-Peer, Web services, intelligent agents, Workflow become core technologies supporting enterprise integration, streamlining transactions while supporting process coordination and consistency. The aim of this paper is to concisely present some relevant business integration reference models, frameworks, standards and technologies, and to propose an approach towards the development of a conceptual framework for a self-forming business networking environment based on Plug-and-Do Business paradigm.