The success of virtual enterprises lies in the knowledge sharing efficiently in real-time.This study presented the architecture of a three-layer VE knowledge description method.This study designed the knowledge-sharing policy between activities.A two-dimensional knowledge authorization evaluation approach had been developed. Virtual enterprises (VEs) are designed to be flexible in their response to changes in the market and customer needs. Such flexibility is achieved through business alliances in which resources are integrated and shared in real time and the actions of members are unified. In this paper, a three-layer VE knowledge description architecture is first presented. This architecture represents the organizational structure and fundamental elements of the VE as well as the conceptual and physical knowledge in the VE. A two-dimensional method developed for authorizing interenterprise knowledge sharing is then described. This method can be decomposed into two components: (1) A submethod for evaluating the activities of VEs to determine the range of workers who are authorized to share knowledge with other workers, and (2) a submethod for evaluating the hierarchical relationships among VE roles (VERs), correlations among various types of knowledge, and interactions that occur in VE activities to determine the degree of authorized knowledge sharing. These submethods facilitate efficiently exchanging and sharing knowledge in real time within a framework of secure and reasonable access authorization.
