Definition of virtual corporation

cooperative agreement between two or more business entities to combine their resources in order to achieve a shared goal. It is called a virtual corporation because by bringing in additional partners, unlimited skills and resources can be pooled. Virtual corporations are usually temporary, and the partnership dissolves once the shared goal is reached. For example, several computer hardware and computer software manufacturers might form a virtual corporation in order to produce a product that exploits a particular market niche such as a PC system for the real estate industry. Computer, cable television, telephone, and communications industry companies have formed virtual corporations to exploit interactive television technologies known as the electronic highway.