Understanding Process Quality in the Context of Collaborative Business Network Structures

Abstract : Demanding customer requirements have led to the situation where products are realised in collaborative business networks by different cooperating companies. In an extreme case such networks exist only for one specific customer order. Such temporary and dynamic organisation forms make new demands on Quality Management (QM) approaches. Existing QM practices mostly focus on assuring and improving quality of standardised processes inside single companies or long-term relations between business partners in supply chains. This paper discusses in particular the exchange of quality-relevant information flows and processes in the different constellations of collaborative business networks that are conceivable in real life.