Implementation framework for collaboration in a non-hierarchical business network

The growing trend of business collaboration exerts an extra pressure on global business communities. This collaboration can be evolved in the form of hierarchical and no-hierarchical. In this research, we have considered non-hierarchical collaboration, where manufacturing firms' especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enjoy equal power and freedom within their networks. In order to develop such business collaboration, SMEs need to adopt different procedural steps such as build, qualify, form, operate and dissolve. In such circumstances, in this article we have proposed an implementation framework or methodology to demonstrate the logical approaches of the formation and operation of a collaborative business network. The formation and operation of this collaboration is illustrated through a complex engineer-to-order (ETO) case product. The common goals and understanding of the successful non-hierarchical business collaborations and future research directions are concluded within the scope of this paper.

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