A VAN is a network using the communication services of other commercial carriers, using hardware and software that permit enhanced communication services to be offered. The tax on processors or merchants is levied on the amount by which they increase the value of items they purchase. The EC charges a tax equivalent to the value added to imports and rebates value- added taxes on exports. At the top of the market are farms and ranches, and at the bottom are consumers. Food processing and marketing firms fill the middle stages of the market.
More value is added to raw farm products at each successive processing and marketing stage.
Eventually, finished food products are distributed to retail outlets for sale to the nation's consumers. Virtual companies are closely associated with the concept of agility. VR applications include entertainment packages, science, medicine, business, architecture, and education. Among its applications, virtual reality provides the ability to realistically practice jobs that are too dangerous, too expensive, or impossible to carry out for real. Several large U.S. companies are using virtual reality techniques to help factory workers fabricate complex wiring assemblies, to test visibility from construction equipment before it is built, or to study improved methods of automobile assembly.