On reference models for collaborative networked organizations

A growing number of collaborative networked organizations can be found in industry, services, and research. However, the lack of a reference model that could synthesize and formalize the base concepts, principles, and recommended practices, is an obstacle for an easier and more consistent development of the area. Therefore, after a clarification of concepts and terminology, the ARCON reference modeling approach is proposed considering multiple modeling perspectives: environment characteristics, life cycle, and modeling intent. This novel modeling framework takes into account contributions from previous works on enterprise modeling and extends them to the context of collaborative networked organizations. A taxonomy of collaborative networks is introduced. Examples of concepts to be part of a reference model are collected and abstracted from several manifestations of collaborative networks. Establishing a reference model in this area is a long-term endeavor; therefore this contribution is aimed as just a step in this process for which needed further research is also identified.