Interdisciplinary and Interorganizational Research: Establishing the Science of Enterprise Networks

Abstract

W e review and discuss the evolution of interdisciplinary and interorganizational research in operations management and suggest directions for future investigations. The proposed operations management research focus is one that embraces a more holistic view of an "extended enterprise" which involves working with a new business model-the organization as a network. This methodology starts by treating the organization as a system that is enabled by information technology and is characterized by ubiquitous information sharing across traditional enterprise. Proper integration of technology, business processes and people factors needs to be developed to create higher value from networked enterprises. Operations management research future lies in establishing this science from an interdisciplinary perspective. We analyze this perspective in the context of papers published in the first 50 issues of Production and Operations Management and the related literature. The Roles of Marketing and Operations in Productand Service Design. POM has published several papers in the areas of product and service operations design. This set of papers deals with the issues at the interface between marketing and operations. They break new ground and show substantial departure from the conventional wisdom on the value proposition and provide directions to better bridge the two functional areas. We highlight some of these areas. Product Design The Role of Changes in Product Attributes and Costs in New Product Diffusion and Substitution:A Departure from the Marketing Literature. Schmidt and Druehl (2005) develop a model that adds opera- Figure 2Emphasis of OM Research Publications; Past and Suggested Future.

Applying Social Network Analysis to Discover Service Innovation within Agile Service Networks

“…One of the major issues across literature is the lack of practical methods to monitor and measure these 'invisible' service networks (for example, Buhman et al, 2005). Understanding the functionality of these networks and the challenge of managing, configuring, and co-coordinating their relationships is becoming more and more complex (for example, cloud computing).…”

“…Organisations today are in search of a formula for success in a world that is more connected than many had believed (Friedman, 2006). Buhman et al, (2005), suggest that as organisations become more connected there are "larger and more complex networks of R&D, manufacturing and service operations, and supply chains, covering an increasing number of countries" (p. 502). Many of these processes amongst organisations have been 'flattened' (Friedman, 2006).…”

The impact of inclusive and fragmented operations strategy processes on operational performance

“…This is highly relevant to the primary research of this paper, which is the assembly of Personal Computers where strategy is not merely a firm specific process but must also be seen as an inter-firm engagement within sets of organizations. Thus, firm-specific capabilities, although very important, also need to be seen within a wider context of sets of capabilities that reside within what are, often, complex networks (Kouvelis et al 2006;Boyer et al 2005;Buhman et al 2005;Holcomb and Hitt 2007;Rudberg and West 2008).…”

The Impact of Company Relationship and Institution Technology on R&D Activity and Innovation

“…In today's competitive environment, the activities of a business cannot be imagined in an isolated manner, nor can they be exclusively associated with commercial-type relations (purchasing and sales of goods and services) as they were in the 1980s and 1990s (Buhman, et al, 2005;Más Ruíz, 2000). We are currently living in a networking society where strong interdependencies among actors are created through networks and inter-organizational alliances (Tikkanen & Parvinen, 2006), where today's companies are network-centric enterprises (Buhman et al, 2005), and where the external environment affects company behavior.…”

“…We are currently living in a networking society where strong interdependencies among actors are created through networks and inter-organizational alliances (Tikkanen & Parvinen, 2006), where today's companies are network-centric enterprises (Buhman et al, 2005), and where the external environment affects company behavior. At the same time, the companies, their culture and their learning processes influence the external stakeholders with whom they have relations (Minguzzi & Passaro, 2000).…”