Performance Evaluation within a Networked Enterprise: Balancing Local Objectives and Network Relations

Measuring the performance of a company within a network of companies is neither a simple nor straightforward activity. In a networked enterprise, aside from traditional performance indicators based on quantifiable (physical) metrics, it is also important to capture performance measures denoting the quality of customer and partner relations. These factors are, however, much harder to quantifiably measure and compare. Furthermore, it is challenging to utilize a relationship performance measure as part of a decision support mechanism. This is due to the fact that connecting the measure to a meaningful business strategy can be difficult. This paper shows how the domain knowledge of experts regarding performance can be modeled using fuzzy logic. We further demonstrate that this modeled knowledge can be used to develop business strategies based on both quantitative metrics and less tangible satisfaction measures. This approach is applied within the freight logistics domain to illustrate how the knowledge of human planners may be captured to strengthen vehicle routing decision support systems.