Author:
Torben Tambo
Affiliation:
Aarhus University, Denmark
Keyword(s):
Enterprise Architecture, IT Strategy, Inter-Company Relations, Supply Chain Management, Principal Actor Theory, Extended Enterprise Architecture, Inter-Organisational Information Systems.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
e-Business
;
Enterprise Engineering
;
Enterprise Information Systems
Abstract:
As the most enterprises are relying on relations to other enterprises, it is relevant to consider enterprise
architecture for inter-organisational relations particularly those relations involving technology. This has
been conceptualised as Extended Enterprise Architecture, and a systematic review of this discipline is the
topic of this paper. This paper is taking a point of departure in general theories of business-to-business
relationships along with inter-organisational information systems, interoperability and business ecosystems.
The general theories are applied to the Extended Enterprise Architecture to emphasize paradoxes, problems
and potentials in extending EA across organisational boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to review the
concept of Extended Enterprise Architecture (EEA) theoretically and empirically to identify viability of
Enterprise Architecture (EA) initiatives spanning across organisational boundaries. A case is presented of an
enterprise engaging in techno
logy-based business process integration that in turn is explicated as enterprise
architecture initiatives with both more and less powerful partners. This paper underlines the necessity to be
able to have EA spanning initiatives across multiple enterprises, but a range of problems is illuminated
related to (lack of) precision, imbalance, heterogeneity, transformation, temporality, and (operational)
maturity. The concept of EEA is seemingly vague, however this paper calls for a strengthen emphasis on
redefining general architectural frameworks to embrace EEA in order to handle typical and modern forms of
organisational designs relying on virtual and cross-company as cornerstones.
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