Abstract

Second Life (SL) is an immersive, virtual 3D social interaction environment developed by Linden Lab where business including monetary transactions can take place. SL is a virtual world that also provides support for virtual organisations; a group of individuals whose members and resources may be dispersed geographically, but who function as a coherent unit through the use of cyber infrastructure. In this paper, we use qualitative and quantitative methodologies to analyse and understand a range of business strategies and activities in SL. We discuss key economic elements in SL and classify firms from the Forbes Global Top 500 companies which have a presence and who operate in B-B, B-C, C-C, and G-C spaces within SL. We develop business cases for three well known firms active in SL, namely IBM, Coca Cola, and Nissan, as a means to explore correlative relationships and potential business strategies future development.

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