Validating adequacy and suitability of business-IT alignment criteria in an inter-enterprise maturity model

Aligning requirements of a business with its information technology is currently a major issue in enterprise computing. Existing literature indicates important criteria to judge the level of alignment between business and IT within a single enterprise. However, identifying such criteria in an inter-enterprise setting – or re-thinking the existing ones – is hardly addressed at all. Business-IT alignment in such settings poses new challenges, as in inter-enterprise collaborations, alignment is driven by economic processes instead of centralized decision-making processes. In our research, we develop a maturity model for business-IT alignment in inter-enterprise settings that takes this difference into account. In this paper, we report on a multi-method approach we devised to confront the validation of the business-IT alignment criteria that we included in the maturity model. As independent feedback is critical for our validation, we used a focus group session and a case study as instruments to take the first step in validating the business-IT alignment criteria. We present how we applied our approach, what we learnt, and what the implications were for our model

A Strategies Alignment Approach to Manage Disruptive Events in Collaborative Networks

[EN] Enterprises of the supply chain are currently embedded in dynamic and turbulent environments, having to deal with the appearance of disruptive events. When an enterprise is affected by a disruptive event, the consequences of the disruption not only impact in the enterprise itself, but also influences on the other partners of the network to which it belongs. Thus, disruptive events exceed the capability of individual actors, impacting on the network performance. Consequently, network partners have to collaboratively make decisions to soften the negative impacts on the performance. In this regard, after a disruption takes place, network enterprises should be aware of activating a set of sustainable and resilience strategies that attenuate the performance loss and reduce the disruption recovery time. Nevertheless, the diverse nature of disruptions means that a wide range of varied and sometimes contradictory strategies can be formulated, resulting in conflict situations among the collaborative network (CN) partners. The current paper proposes an approach that makes it possible to collaboratively manage the strategies to activate when a disruptive event occurs, so that the selected strategies are aligned. The strategies alignment approach, proposed in the paper, makes it possible to select those strategies that have a positive impact, or a minimum negative impact, on the objectives defined, not only in the enterprise itself, but also in the objectives defined by the rest of CN partners. The alignment of strategies makes it possible to reduce the performance level loss when a disruption takes place. Thus, the strategies alignment approach aims at activating those strategies that maximize the performance of the CN, achieving levels of performance equal or higher than the levels previous to the disruption, limiting the adverse effects produced by the disruptive events, and contributing to a more sustainable-resilient CN. Finally, in order to validate the proposal, a case study is presented. The proposed model is validated to deal with a drop in demand due to a political embargo, in a textile CN.This research was funded by Ayuda Vali+D Formacion-Andres Navarro (ACIF/2012/006). (16/04/12-16/04/15) GENERALITAT VALENCIANA.Andres, B.; Marcucci, G. (2020). A Strategies Alignment Approach to Manage Disruptive Events in Collaborative Networks. Sustainability. 12(7):1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072641S123127Camarinha-Matos, L. M., & Afsarmanesh, H. (2005). Collaborative networks: a new scientific discipline. 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OR/MS Models for Supply Chain Disruptions: A Review. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1689882Egbelakin, T., Poshdar, M., Walsh, K. Q., Ingham, J., Johnston, D., Becker, J., … Rasheed, E. (2018). Preparation of small to medium-sized enterprises to earthquake disaster. Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, 51(4), 171-182. doi:10.5459/bnzsee.51.4.171-182Kimura, N., Hoshino, S., & Onitsuka, K. (2019). Analyzing the Association Between Disaster Risk Preparedness and Environmental Consciousness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: The Case of Sukagawa City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Journal of Disaster Research, 14(8), 1047-1058. doi:10.20965/jdr.2019.p1047Ivanov, D. (2017). Simulation-based ripple effect modelling in the supply chain. International Journal of Production Research, 55(7), 2083-2101. doi:10.1080/00207543.2016.1275873Morrish, S. C., & Jones, R. (2020). Post-disaster business recovery: An entrepreneurial marketing perspective. Journal of Business Research, 113, 83-92. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.03.041Nair, A., & Vidal, J. M. (2011). Supply network topology and robustness against disruptions – an investigation using multi-agent model. International Journal of Production Research, 49(5), 1391-1404. doi:10.1080/00207543.2010.518744Kim, Y., Chen, Y.-S., & Linderman, K. (2014). Supply network disruption and resilience: A network structural perspective. Journal of Operations Management, 33-34(1), 43-59. doi:10.1016/j.jom.2014.10.006Kamalahmadi, M., & Parast, M. M. (2016). A review of the literature on the principles of enterprise and supply chain resilience: Major findings and directions for future research. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, 116-133. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.10.023Sanchis, R., & Poler, R. (2019). Enterprise Resilience Assessment—A Quantitative Approach. Sustainability, 11(16), 4327. doi:10.3390/su11164327Pei, J., & Liu, W. (2019). Evaluation of Chinese Enterprise Safety Production Resilience Based on a Combined Gray Relevancy and BP Neural Network Model. Sustainability, 11(16), 4321. doi:10.3390/su11164321Blackhurst *, J., Craighead, C. W., Elkins, D., & Handfield, R. B. (2005). An empirically derived agenda of critical research issues for managing supply-chain disruptions. International Journal of Production Research, 43(19), 4067-4081. doi:10.1080/00207540500151549Reyes Levalle, R., & Nof, S. Y. (2017). Resilience in supply networks: Definition, dimensions, and levels. Annual Reviews in Control, 43, 224-236. doi:10.1016/j.arcontrol.2017.02.003Rajesh, R. (2018). On sustainability, resilience, and the sustainable–resilient supply networks. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 15, 74-88. doi:10.1016/j.spc.2018.05.005Jabbarzadeh, A., Fahimnia, B., & Sabouhi, F. (2018). Resilient and sustainable supply chain design: sustainability analysis under disruption risks. International Journal of Production Research, 56(17), 5945-5968. doi:10.1080/00207543.2018.1461950Mari, S., Lee, Y., & Memon, M. (2014). Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain Network Design under Disruption Risks. Sustainability, 6(10), 6666-6686. doi:10.3390/su6106666Kaur, H., & Singh, S. P. (2016). Sustainable procurement and logistics for disaster resilient supply chain. Annals of Operations Research, 283(1-2), 309-354. doi:10.1007/s10479-016-2374-2Mari, S., Lee, Y., & Memon, M. (2016). Sustainable and Resilient Garment Supply Chain Network Design with Fuzzy Multi-Objectives under Uncertainty. Sustainability, 8(10), 1038. doi:10.3390/su8101038Ivanov, D. (2017). Revealing interfaces of supply chain resilience and sustainability: a simulation study. International Journal of Production Research, 56(10), 3507-3523. doi:10.1080/00207543.2017.1343507Barthe-Delanoë, A.-M., Montarnal, A., Truptil, S., Bénaben, F., & Pingaud, H. (2018). Towards the agility of collaborative workflows through an event driven approach – Application to crisis management. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 28, 214-224. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.02.029Zhu, W., & Wang, Z. (2018). The Collaborative Networks and Thematic Trends of Research on Purchasing and Supply Management for Environmental Sustainability: A Bibliometric Review. Sustainability, 10(5), 1510. doi:10.3390/su10051510Ivanov, D., Sokolov, B., Solovyeva, I., Dolgui, A., & Jie, F. (2016). Dynamic recovery policies for time-critical supply chains under conditions of ripple effect. International Journal of Production Research, 54(23), 7245-7258. doi:10.1080/00207543.2016.1161253Sanchis, R., & Poler, R. (2013). Definition of a framework to support strategic decisions to improve Enterprise Resilience. IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 46(9), 700-705. doi:10.3182/20130619-3-ru-3018.00600AnyLogichttps://www.anylogic.com/Abylaev, M., Pal, R., & Torstensson, H. (2014). Resilience challenges for textile enterprises in a transitional economy and regional trade perspective - a study of Kyrgyz conditions. International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience, 1(1), 54. doi:10.1504/ijscor.2014.065459Li, W.-Y., Chow, P.-S., Choi, T.-M., & Chan, H.-L. (2016). Supplier integration, green sustainability programs, and financial performance of fashion enterprises under global financial crisis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, 57-70. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.048Venkatesh, V. G., Rathi, S., & Patwa, S. (2015). Analysis on supply chain risks in Indian apparel retail chains and proposal of risk prioritization model using Interpretive structural modeling. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 26, 153-167. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.06.001Yang, S., Song, Y., & Tong, S. (2017). Sustainable Retailing in the Fashion Industry: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability, 9(7), 1266. doi:10.3390/su9071266Sanctions against Russia and the Russian Embargo: Billions of Euros Damage to ‘Made in Italy’ Productshttp://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-002225_EN.htm

Enhancing Enterprise Resilience through Enterprise Collaboration

Current environments, characterised by turbulent changes and unforeseen events, consider resilience as a decisive aspect for enterprises to create advantages over less adaptive competitors. Furthermore, the consideration of establishing collaborative processes among partners of the same network is a key issue to help enterprises to deal with changeable environments. In this paper both concepts, resilience and collaborative processes establishment, are associated in order to help organisations to handle disruptive events. The research objective is to identify collaborative processes whose positive influences assist enterprises against disruptions, reducing the effects of disturbances in dynamic environments.Andres, B.; Poler R. (2013). Enhancing Enterprise Resilience through Enterprise Collaboration. IFAC papers online. 7(1):688-693. doi:10.3182/20130619-3-RU-3018.00283S6886937

Collaborative methodology for supply chain quality management: framework and integration with strategic decision processes in product development

The new generation of network-based organizations has triggered the emergence of distributed and more complex contexts for the analysis of firms’ strategies. This gradual change in the way we understand enterprises has induced radical evolutions on the Quality Management domain. As a consequence, the Problem Solving Methodologies (PSM)widely used in industry and positioned up to now as one of the key elements for achieving continuous improvement efforts within local scopes are now insufficient to deal with major and distributed problems and requirements in this new environment. The definition of a generic and collaborative PSM well-adapted to supply chain contexts is one of the purposes of this paper. Additional requirements linked to specificities carried out by the introduction of a networked context within the methodology scope, the relational aspects of the supply chains, complexity and distribution of information, distributed decision-making processes and knowledge management challenges are some of the aspects being addressed by the proposed methodology. A special focus is made on benefits obtained through the integration of those elements across all problem-solving phases and particularly a proposal for multi-level root-cause analysis articulating both horizontal and vertical decision processes of supply chains is presented. In addition to laying out the expected benefits of such a methodology in the Quality Management area, the article studies the reuse of all the quality-related evidence capitalized in series phase as a driver for improving upstream phases of product development projects. This paper addresses this link between series and development activities in light of the proposed PSM and intends to encourage discussion on the definition of new approaches for Quality Management throughout the whole product life cycle. Some enabling elements in the decision-making processes linked to both the problem-solving in series phase and the roll-out of new products are introduced

An Information Management Conceptual Approach for the Strategies Alignment Collaborative Process

[EN] This paper proposes an information management approach to deal with the strategies alignment collaborative process. Much attention has been given to the information management in collaborative networks (CNs), resulting in a wide variety of information management approaches and frameworks. The treatment, estimation, and collection of data are key issues that still need to be addressed, due to the complexity associated with the information exchange and the need to build trust relationships within the CN. In order to address this literature gap, this paper presents an approach to manage information in the specific collaborative process of strategies alignment. The approach is composed of a methodology, that enables to identify the roles participating in the application of the collaborative process, select the collaborative application context, determine the level of collaboration to be applied, and estimate and gather the data required to feed the strategies alignment process. The proposed information management approach bridges the conceptual model of strategies alignment process, with its application in real-world CNs.This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 872548 "Fostering DIHs for Embedding Interoperability in Cyber-Physical Systems of European SMEs" (DIH4CPS) (http://dih4cps.eu/).Andres, B.; Poler, R. (2020). An Information Management Conceptual Approach for the Strategies Alignment Collaborative Process. Sustainability. 12(10):1-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12103959S1221210Camarinha-Matos, L. M., & Afsarmanesh, H. (2005). Collaborative networks: a new scientific discipline. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 16(4-5), 439-452. doi:10.1007/s10845-005-1656-3Cheikhrouhou, N., Pouly, M., & Madinabeitia, G. (2013). Trust categories and their impacts on information exchange processes in vertical collaborative networked organisations. 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Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 18(2), 229-252. doi:10.1093/jopart/mum015Pilbeam, C., Alvarez, G., & Wilson, H. (2012). The governance of supply networks: a systematic literature review. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17(4), 358-376. doi:10.1108/13598541211246512Alemany, M. M. E., Alarcón, F., Lario, F.-C., & Boj, J. J. (2011). An application to support the temporal and spatial distributed decision-making process in supply chain collaborative planning. Computers in Industry, 62(5), 519-540. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2011.02.002Schneeweiss, C. (2003). Distributed decision making in supply chain management. International Journal of Production Economics, 84(1), 71-83. doi:10.1016/s0925-5273(02)00381-xAlemany, M. M. E., Boj, J. J., Mula, J., & Lario, F.-C. (2009). Mathematical programming model for centralised master planning in ceramic tile supply chains. 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A simulation Approach to Assess Partners Selected for a Collaborative Network

[EN] Manufacturing enterprises are increasingly more aware of the importance of establishing collaborative relationships with their network partners, due to the advantages associated to collaboration. Nevertheless, the participation in a collaborative network (CN) comes with associated challenges, namely the need to reduce the potential for conflicts among partners. A CN consists of heterogeneous partners, each one defining its own objectives and activating its own strategies. In this context, the ability to quickly identify partners with aligned strategies is crucial for smooth operation of the CN. The main aim of this paper is to address the partners' selection problem in the context of Virtual organizations Breeding Environments (VBE) that facilitate and enable the creation of Virtual Organisations (VO), as one type of CN. In a first stage, the sets of enterprises, characterised by having the required competencies to create the VO, are identified among different potential candidates within the VBE. In a second stage, the strategies alignment approach, based on the system dynamics simulation method, is used for the partners' selection process, identifying the best set of enterprises. In this paper, the final stage of partners' selection process is addressed by obtaining the degree of alignment of the business strategies formulated by each set of enterprises. In the light of this, a system dynamics-simulation model, in AnyLogic, is presented to obtain the set of enterprises that have higher levels of alignment in its strategies. The proposed system dynamics-simulation model is applied to a case in the building industry, to deal with the partners' selection problem in a VBE with the aim of forming a stable and sustainable VO.This work has been funded in part by Programa Val i+d para investigadores en formación (ACIF 2012) and by the Uninova–Center of Technology and Systems and the Portuguese FCT-PEST program UID/EEA/00066/2013.Andres, B.; Poler, R.; Camarinha-Matos, L.; Afsarmanesh, H. (2017). A simulation Approach to Assess Partners Selected for a Collaborative Network. International Journal of Simulation Modelling. 16(3):399-411. https://doi.org/10.2507/IJSIMM16(3)3.382S39941116

Towards a business-IT alignment maturity model for collaborative networked organizations

Aligning business and IT in networked organizations is a complex endeavor because in such settings, business-IT alignment is driven by economic processes instead of by centralized decision-making processes. In order to facilitate managing business-IT alignment in networked organizations, we need a maturity model that allows collaborating organizations to assess the current state of alignment and take appropriate action to improve it where needed. In this paper we propose the first version of such a model, which we derive from various alignment models and theories