e3forces: Understanding Strategies of Networked e3value Constellations by Analyzing Environmental Forces

Abstract

Enterprises increasingly form networked value constellations; networks of enterprises that can jointly satisfy complex consumer needs, while still focusing on core competencies. Information technology and information systems play an important role for such constellations, for instance to coordinate inter-organizational business processes and/or to offer an IT-intensive product, such as music or games. To do successful requirements engineering for these information systems it is important to understand its context; being here the constellation itself. To this end, business value modeling approaches for networked constellations, such as e 3 value , BMO, or REA, can be used. In this paper, we extend these business value modeling approaches to understand the strategic rationale of business value models. We introduce two dominant schools on strategic thinking: (1) the "environment" school and (2) the "core competences" school, and present the e 3 forces ontology that considers business strategy as a positioning problem in a complex environment. We illustrate the practical use and reasoning capabilities of the e 3 forces ontology by using a case study in the Dutch aviation industry.

Using conceptual models to explore business-ICT alignment in networked value constellations

“…We use e 3 forces (see [28]) to elicit business requirements regarding the strategic perspective. The e 3 forces technique provides modeling constructs for representing and analyzing strategic-related concepts, such as ''strategic position'' and ''business forces.…”

“…To analyze the influence of a business force on a value object, Q j different aspects need to be analyzed depending on the business force [28,35]. For buyer markets, 7 aspects need to be analyzed; for supplier markets, 5 aspects need to be analyzed; and for competitor markets, 7 aspects need to be analyzed.…”

“…For buyer markets, 7 aspects need to be analyzed; for supplier markets, 5 aspects need to be analyzed; and for competitor markets, 7 aspects need to be analyzed. These aspects are directly derived from the Five Forces Model (see [28,35]). To be able to measure and compare the strength of the business force, each of the business aspects related to the business force is scored on a five-point scale.…”

Designing Value-Oriented Service Systems by Value Map

“…Thus, it can be asserted that sustainable value (co)-creation and capture is an imperative for viability of service systems. In the service science literature, a number of modeling frameworks provide conceptual tools to support the design of service offerings (see for instance [16][17][18][19][20]). Such modeling frameworks, however, mainly address the design and analysis of value from the customers' perspective and do not sufficiently address service providers' value capture in the service value equation.…”

Aligning Information System Design and Business Strategy – A Starting Internet Company

“…For modeling the IS perspective we use basic IS architectures, since they can show how an information system interacts with other actors in its environment (section 3.1). For modeling the strategic perspective we use the e 3 forces modeling technique [10], since this technique enables us to analyze the strategic environment of an organization in terms of external business forces influencing an organization on a strategic level (section 3.2).…”