Enhancing the partner selection process in a Sustainable Partner Network

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce how to describe in a unified way the business models of different sectors companies based on VAC/EPC notations, and to contribute to the lean based partner selection mechanism for sustainable partner network. Design/methodology/approach: The authors introduce the unified business process modelling approach for collaborative companies modelling, which supports the lean based sustainable partner selection. Where lean correspond to the characteristics of cheap (cost effective), better (lower risk) and fast (less time).Findings: The authors defend that appropriate partner selection is a vital success factor in any collaboration. Existing supplier (partner selection) tools do not include the unified approach for business processes modelling of partners organisations and do not apply the lean principles for sustainable partner selection. Existing collaborative networks such as conventional supply chains spend considerable time and money to search for suitable partners, decrease the number of successful initiation of a project and completed collaborative projects.Research limitations/implications: The authors have designed a unified methodology for the business process modelling of manufacturing and machinery sectors companies applied for the formation of a sustainable partner network. After implementation, the solution applies the lean based approach for partner selection, to decrease the time and cost spend with simultaneous improvement of collaborative project sustainability. Nevertheless, the proposed approach is adaptable to other fields.Practical implications: To evaluate the achieved results the authors have performed the simulation study of Sustainable Partner Network (SPN) formation followed by partner’s selection that supports lean principles. The paper includes a feasibility case study for the approval of findings, where twenty-seven small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the manufacturing and logistics fields collaborate to achieve a common goal. The time required for collaborative partner selection in the conventional supply chain is compared to the partner selection in Sustainable Partner Network was found to less.Originality/value: The main idea is to collect information about the available resources of SMEs into a new temporary entity and to utilise those resources for the realisation of the tasks of a particularly large project while meeting customer expectations. This work also suggests a methodology for faster business process modelling and evaluation (assessment) based on lean principles for a particular business process. Partners can use the SPN resources with the attributes of fast, cheap and less risk. The suggested solution enables to select the most reliable partners and contributes to the improvement of collaborative networks sustainability.