Standardization Framework for Sustainability from Circular Economy 4.0

The circular economy (CE) is widely known as a way to implement and achieve sustainability, mainly due to its contribution towards the separation of biological and technical nutrients under cyclic industrial metabolism. The incorporation of the principles of the CE in the links of the value chain of the various sectors of the economy strives to ensure circularity, safety, and efficiency. The framework proposed is aligned with the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development regarding the orientation towards the mitigation and regeneration of the metabolic rift by considering a double perspective. Firstly, it strives to conceptualize the CE as a paradigm of sustainability. Its principles are established, and its techniques and tools are organized into two frameworks oriented towards causes (cradle to cradle) and effects (life cycle assessment), and these are structured under the three pillars of sustainability, for their projection within the proposed framework. Secondly, a framework is established to facilitate the implementation of the CE with the use of standards, which constitute the requirements, tools, and indicators to control each life cycle phase, and of key enabling technologies (KETs) that add circular value 4.0 to the socio-ecological transition

Virtual enterprise collaborative processes monitoring through a project business approach

In order to design a system for managing performance in collaborative project-based enterprises, it is necessary to undertake real-time monitoring of its business processes and activities. This paper presents a systematic approach to project business process monitoring (BPM) and identifies the key aspects of virtual enterprise (VE) process evaluation. A framework for VE BPM is presented with special emphasis in linking interest groups to the development of their targets, information and knowledge sharing. The proposed model defines the exclusive performance metrics, which are needed during BPM. This interdisciplinary study examines BPM through peer-to-peer information exchange in the VE domain, which is currently a research gap. The fundamental metrics to define business process performance monitoring are elaborated in the research reported in this paper. The identified performance metrics can be used to measure the overall performances for both a project business and VE. A reference architecture is also highlighted with a case example with the objective to measure the performance in a project business VE. An overall definition of collaborative BPM and performance management systems is also presented accordingly. Future research directions are identified regarding the nature of collaboration in a project business VE and the characteristics of performance indicators to support it.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Framework for a business interoperability quotient measurement model

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova da Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial (MEGI)Over the last decade the context of Interoperability has been changing rapidly. It has been expanding from the largely technically focused area of Information Systems towards Business Processes and Business Semantics. However, there exists a need for more comprehensive ways to define business interoperability and enable its performance measurement as a first step towards improvement of interoperability conditions between collaborating entities. Through extensive literature reviews and analysis of European Research initiatives in this area, this dissertation presents the State of the Art in Business Interoperability. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a model that closely captures the factors that are responsible for Business Interoperability in the context of Collaborative Business Processes. This Business Interoperability Quotient Measurement Model (BIQMM), developed in this dissertation uses an interdisciplinary approach to capture the key elements responsible for collaboration performance. Through the quantification of the relevance of each element to the particular collaboration scenario in question, this model enables a quantitative analysis of Business Interoperability, so that an overall interoperability score can be arrived at for enhanced performance measurements.Finally, the BIQMM is applied to a business case involving Innovayt and LM Glassfiber to demonstrate its applicability to different collaboration scenarios

Breaking the MBA delivery mould: A multi-group international MBA / practitioner virtual collaborative project

The marketing education project presented here brings together a major UK financial institution in the banking sector and a selection of its high value clients (B-to-B) via e-mail, telephone, video conferencing and other web-based technologies, with two geographically dispersed MBA classes in the UK and the US. Student groups were set up in virtual teams to target critical customer issues, analyzing gaps in the client-company interface. The two MBA courses included Customer Management & Quality Systems delivered at the University of Manchester, Manchester Business School (UK) and International Marketing, delivered at Missouri State University (US). The groups worked as a "think tank" collaborating to solve important customer service issues

Supply Chain and Network Performance: Metrics for Profitability, Productivity and Efficiency

The architecture of the firm involves determination of a boundary that encompasses the functions managed by the firm. The past decade has seen substantial reorganization of firms where vertical or horizontal integration has been unbundled into weaker forms of collaborations including value chains and networks. This observation has forced a re-conceptualization of the boundaries of the firm to incorporate such collaborations. These collaborations are virtual and highly dynamic. They emerge and persist when two conditions are met. First, they must enable generation of greater value than might be attained through independent operation and anonymous transactions through markets. Second, the resulting growth must be shared with members in a way that retains their participation. Each of these conditions can be verified only if performance of the collaboration can be established. This paper recognizes the need for “metrics of performance” that are by necessity operationally feasible to measure. While conceptual approaches have been studied in the management literature, this paper considers from theoretic perspectives these issues and derives measures of the performance of the overall collaboration as well as of the participating enterprises. The paper presents a framework that can be applied to both vertical and horizontal collaborations as found in supply chains and networks. The paper offers suggestions on empirical methods for estimation of measures derived

Value-driven partner search for <i>Energy from Waste</i> projects

Energy from Waste (EfW) projects require complex value chains to operate effectively. To identify business partners, plant operators need to network with organisations whose strategic objectives are aligned with their own. Supplier organisations need to work out where they fit in the value chain. Our aim is to support people in identifying potential business partners, based on their organisation’s interpretation of value. Value for an organisation should reflect its strategy and may be interpreted using key priorities and KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs may comprise any or all of knowledge, operational, economic, social and convenience indicators. This paper presents an ontology for modelling and prioritising connections within the business environment, and in the process provides means for defining value and mapping these to corresponding KPIs. The ontology is used to guide the design of a visual representation of the environment to aid partner search