An engineering approach to develop business networks

Abstract

In order to attain Business Networking goals, such as the simple and fast exchange of transactions, increased customer care or reduced inventories, business partners have to be convinced about new ideas, new business processes among them and new (information) systems. For implementation to be successful, a variety of decisions will have to be taken concerning strategy, process and systems. Business Networking projects require a methodical approach completely different from that of traditional ERP implementations. The proposed method therefore guides managers in designing and implementing cooperation-intensive business networks. It covers aspects from strategy to implementation and follows the principles of method engineering. The 'Woodbridge'-Cases illustrates the method in practice. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.