Capability Maturity Models for SMEs and Collaborative Networked Organisations in Tourism

Experiences in applying results from ECOLEAD on Collaborative Networked Organisations (CNOs) in real life have shown that the maturity level of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), who joined these networks, are highly different. Soon it was found out that there are different process areas in which SMTEs have strengths and weaknesses. This paper will introduce the essential process areas which should be assessed by standardised and well established assessment methods to be able to establish improvement programs out of the results. The process areas and the assessment methodology are derived from CMMI, which is nowadays the prevailing assessment method in the software development area. Typical tourism domain specific process areas are Quality Management, Yield Management, Human Resource Management, Product Development, and eCommerce. While classical process areas of CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integrated) will be analyzed insofar, if they are appropriate for CNOs and how they should be extended or modified.

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