The enterprise simulation in Second Life. The case of Perting Ltd

The diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their application in virtual worlds as Second Life (2nd Life), Forterra, There, Multiverse created many interesting research fields, particularly as it regards the knowledge management and distance learning, for academic and not academic communities. Virtual worlds are fundamentally immersive, visually compelling and highly social experiences in which trusted relationships, personal and professional, developed quickly and can carry over into the real world (Kish 2007). Particularly the increasing use of 2nd Life, one of the most diffused virtual worlds, by Enterprises, Municipalities, Universities, Chamber of commerce, and in general by all entities of a local system, underlined the networking approach based on the creation of links and relationships for sharing knowledge. To this purpose the paper will consider the case in progress of Perting ltd, the simulated enterprise created in 2001 by the University of Bologna, Faculty of Economics of Forlì, that established, in an experimental way, a premise in 2nd Life in February 2008. This place is composed by the forum area for videoconference and lectures, the exhibition hall to show the international projects and the main building in which are located the operative offices of this company. The paper aims to define and discuss the use of virtual reality in business management not only for branding and marketing but also in didactics and research techniques for services innovation development. In this way Perting ltd represents a significant example of virtual reality application to create a global knowledge in the didactic and research challenges.