Creating an open-books -supported implementation framework for inter-organizational decision-making models in the industrial maintenance context

Abstract

Rapid globalization has forced companies to outsource their intra-organizational activities and collaborate otherwise with previously unrelated partners. As the importance of networking and forming inter-organizational relationships is increasingly emphasized in industrial environments, there is also a need for inter-organizational methods, models and tools to manage network interdependencies. Especially in the industrial maintenance context, the interplay between a customer, a service provider and an equipment provider requires triadic and transparent collaboration. An open-book accounting -supported implementation framework for inter-organizational decision-making models, featuring a relational dimension and a process dimension is created in the study. The theoretical framework is established through a literature review. Furthermore, the prerequisites and potential pitfalls of increasing real-life inter-organizational openness are studied framework-wise. The empirical data has been gathered in workshop events with companies acting in the field of industrial maintenance. Firstly, the study reveals that the companies are not yet prepared to disclose intra-organizational information networkwide, rather a willingness to promote dyadic transparency and focal company -coordinated disclosure is highlighted. Secondly, the present state of companies’ cost accounting systems seems to be relatively poor, which hinders the adoption of interorganizational models. Thirdly, a lack of systematic network infrastructure appears as well.