Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to provide practical justification for performance measurement and management within a collaborative business network. The basic performance measurement indicators are elaborated within the scope of this research. Design/methodology/approach-Performance measurement techniques are highlighted through the application of an ICT-based solution approach, with special focus on business collaboration among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Findings-From the basic need to measure the performance of individual partners within a business network, this research proposes a generic framework and process flow with the objective of evaluating the individual partners in terms of various performance indicators such as key success factors (KSF), key performance factors (KPF) and key performance indicators (KPI). The outcomes from this framework or process flow will help partners in the network to build valuable trust, cooperation and coordination. Originality/value-The focus of this paper is to demonstrate the methodological approach of measuring the performance through identifying and prioritizing the performance indicators (KSF, KPF, KPI) among collaborative partners and to highlight their importance for successful business operations.

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International audienceCurrent market dynamics require European SME's to focus on complex products manufacturing and to build non-hierarchical business networks, to assure competitiveness and sustainability. Such trend demands appropriate methods for network formation and management, including reference collaboration processes and supporting ICT tools. This paper presents a framework to support SME's in the creation and management of non-hierarchical networks designed and developed within the European RTD project Net-Challenge. This framework includes methodologies, processes and ICT decision support tools aiming at the efficient creation and management of these networks assuring quick response times and competitive and differentiated offerings

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to introduce a methodological approach to develop customized products which offer true customer value and achieve superior competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach-An integrated framework is presented where both front-and back-end features of product development activities are illustrated. Detailed explanations of the framework participants are discussed with their specifications and view points that illustrate the value of the framework. This framework communicates between citarasa and do-it-yourself-design configurators at the upstream, and available to promise, agile supply and demand network, advanced planning and scheduling systems in the downstream, in order to visualize the complete production scenarios and to maintain the flow of custom tailored product development. Findings-It is hoped that the illustrated framework will bridge the gap between manufacturers, and customers in order to produce customer satisfied products that fulfill the business target in terms of earning more revenues. Research limitations/implications-This research work is based on a theoretical hypothesis. Although the proposed framework is implemented in a truck manufacturing company, it requires application in more industrial organizations in order to generalize its effectiveness, suitability, and consistency in the manufacturing arena. Originality/value-This paper outlines the configuration principle, along with different tools and methodologies, which support manufacturing firms in the customization of products in both upstream and downstream activities in a profitable way. These tools or methodologies can help product developers to improve their due-date promising, exploitation of bottlenecks, and the visualization of their capability to produce the customers' specific products.

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