In order for companies to remain competitive and improve their financial returns, they are constantly examining, refining and redefining the way they do business. A concept has been proposed whereby companies, collaborating on a project in an "Extended Enterprise," simulate and evaluate different working methods in a virtual world, to design the most efficient methodology for the real project. This paper is an evaluation of this concept and the tool itself, called PIPSEE. Product Introduction Process, Simulation of the Extended Enterprise, is based on the concept of participants performing a project in a virtual world, with both cooperative and non-cooperative game theory forces at work. The process is iterative with critique and feedback after each iteration feeding into a modified process map for the next simulation, until the desired goals, such as lead-time reduction, are achieved. The process map then forms the model for the conduct of the project in the real world. The paper concludes that the concept has merit particularly in fostering behaviors of the participants toward a common goal. The actual tool, however, although based on common business tools, is still transitioning from the academic world and is not yet commercially robust. Among the specific recommendations are incorporating additional software into the tool and adding resources to make the tool more commercially available and accepted.
