  In the context of globalization and dynamic markets, collaboration among
organizations is a condition sine qua non for organizations, especially small
and medium enterprises, to remain competitive. Virtual organizations have been
proposed as an organizational structure adapted to collaboration among
organizations. The concept of Virtual Organization Breeding Environment (VOBE)
has been proposed as a means to support the creation and operation of virtual
organizations. With the rise of the service-oriented architecture (SOA), the
concept of service-oriented VOBE (SOVOBE) has been proposed as a VOBE
systematically organized around the concept of services. In the context of
SOVOBEs, novel competence models supporting both service orientation and
collaboration among organizations have to be developed to support efficiently
partner selection, a key aspect of VO creation. In this paper, such a
competence model is presented. Our competence model consists of a competence
description model, a competence verification method, and a competence search
method. The competence description model is an information model to describe
organizations, their competences, and services they provides. The competence
verification method enables the verification of the reliance and relevance of
competence descriptions. The competence search method allows a VO planner to
select appropriate partners based on VO specifications, encompassing competence
requirements. Finally, implementation concerns based on the development of the
prototype ErGo system are presented.
