A key integration mechanism is via dynamic information. Information flows
affect a firm's ability to integrate value-adding operations and improve
innovativeness. Indeed exchange of information frequently precedes physical
movement of materials and products, thus enabling firms to reduce inventories
and utilise resources most effectively. Weiber and Kollman (1998) consider the
new emerging virtual value chain and the changing role of information (see
Figure 3). The digital age has seen information functioning as a unique source
of competitive advantage. Now virtual supply-chain activities in marketspace
can operate completely independent of the physical value chain. The model in
Figure 3 illustrates the blurring of boundaries between virtual and physical
markets.