Article: Rule-based modelling of dependencies among activities in collaborative partnership Journal: Journal of Design Research (JDR) 2014 Vol.12 No.1/2 pp.32 - 51 Abstract: Companies have to work with their partners to improve their competitiveness and productivity. In some cases, they may find themselves in an uncomfortable situation owing to the imbalance of power with partners that could even threaten the survival of the weakest firms. The analysis of dependency between partners is a pertinent key to understanding the behaviour of each member and its influence on the global strategy of firms. This paper contains exploratory results to model dependencies between activities of a process. The chosen process used for illustrative purposes is the product development process. Once the concept of dependency is defined, we propose a structured set of rules that enable formalising of the dependency relationships between activities. These dependency relations are then interpreted as the dependencies among partners and they define constraints that must be known from the beginning of a product development project. The results of this presented study have also implications for managers and practitioners, because it could provide a deeper understanding concerning the factors from which organisations' dependency stems. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Rule-based modelling of dependencies among activities in collaborative partnership

Authors: Driss Essabbar; Marc Zolghadri; Maria Zrikem; Abderrahman Ayadi

Addresses: TIM Laboratory, ENSA, BP 575, Abdelkarim Khattabi, Guéliz Marrakech, Morocco; IMS Laboratory, Bordeaux University, 33405 Talence, France ' Phenics-LISMMA EA2336 Supmeca, 3 rue Fernand Hainaut, Paris, France ' TIM Laboratory, ENSA, BP 575, Abdelkarim Khattabi, Guéliz Marrakech, Morocco ' TIM Laboratory, ENSA, BP 575, Abdelkarim Khattabi, Guéliz Marrakech, Morocco

Abstract: Companies have to work with their partners to improve their competitiveness and productivity. In some cases, they may find themselves in an uncomfortable situation owing to the imbalance of power with partners that could even threaten the survival of the weakest firms. The analysis of dependency between partners is a pertinent key to understanding the behaviour of each member and its influence on the global strategy of firms. This paper contains exploratory results to model dependencies between activities of a process. The chosen process used for illustrative purposes is the product development process. Once the concept of dependency is defined, we propose a structured set of rules that enable formalising of the dependency relationships between activities. These dependency relations are then interpreted as the dependencies among partners and they define constraints that must be known from the beginning of a product development project. The results of this presented study have also implications for managers and practitioners, because it could provide a deeper understanding concerning the factors from which organisations' dependency stems.

Keywords: dependency relationships; supply chain management; SCM; power relationship; partners; product development; product design; rule-based modelling; collaborative partnership; collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2014.060933

Journal of Design Research, 2014 Vol.12 No.1/2, pp.32 - 51

Published online: 26 Jul 2014 *

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Title: Rule-based modelling of dependencies among activities in collaborative partnership

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