The Emergence of Smart Business Networks

Authors

Peter Vervest, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Follow
Kenneth Preiss, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, School of Management and Faculty of Engineering, Beer Sheva, Israel
Eric van Heck, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
Louis-François Pau, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands;

Document Type

Other

Abstract

This article introduces the novel concept of smart business networks. The authors see the future as a developing web of people and organizations, bound together in a dynamic and unpredictable way, creating smart outcomes from quickly (re-) configuring links between actors. The question is: What should be done to make the outcomes of such a network ‘smart’, that is, just a little better than that of your competitor? More agile, with less pain, with more return to all the members of the network, now and over time? The technical answer is to create a ‘business operating system’ that should run business processes on different organizational platforms. Business processes would become portable: The end-to-end management of processes running across many different organizations in many different forms would become possible. This article presents an energizing discussion of smart business networks and the research challenges ahead.

DOI

10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000024

Recommended Citation

Vervest, Peter; Preiss, Kenneth; van Heck, Eric; and Pau, Louis-François (2004) "The Emergence of Smart Business Networks," Journal of Information Technology: Vol. 19: Iss. 4, Article 2.
DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000024
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jit/vol19/iss4/2