Economic Models - Convex Optimization

128 Nikitas Spiros Koutsoukis
The multiple facets of EI refer to the multiple dimensions, entities, and
constituents where integration is primarily aimed at, and through which
enterprise integration is achieved.
Enterprise integration dimensions represent infrastructural views, upon
which integration is founded, built and subsequently achieved. Some of the
most commonly used integration dimensions are the following:
• the data and information dimension;
• the processes dimension;
• the economic activity or business dimension and
• the technology or technical dimension.
Because these dimensions can easily be extended throughout the enterprise
regardless of the enterprise functions, they are frequently used as
fundamental reference points for EI efforts (Lankhorst, 2005).
Each of these dimensions has been used successfully for seeking out and
achieving EI. For instance, in the data and information dimension, which
is mainly the realm of corporate information systems, data warehousing
and enterprise resource planning (ERP), have been used successfully to
introduce enterprise-wide, unified views of data, information and related
analyses. In the processes dimension, business process management (BPM)
or re-engineering (BPR) have been successfully applied in developing and
refining old, and new processes which are more integrated and efficient
across the enterprise. In the economic or business dimension, business
strategy models, like the core-competency theory, balanced-score cards,
or economic value-added models like the activity-based costing (ABC)
are also used successfully to integrate across the enterprise (Kaplan and
Norton, 1992; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). In the technology or technical
dimension, the key requirement is for interoperability of systems, hardware,
and software. The success with which many multinational enterprises
operate shows that certain milestones have been reached in this
direction.
Enterprise entities refer to function-oriented enterprise constructs
that are typically goal-oriented, collectively contributing to achieving
the enterprise mission. Entities form hierarchical views of the enterprise,
and frequently tend to match formal or informal structures as in
most organizational charts. From a functional perspective, entities refer
to key organizational activities or divisions, such as administration, production,
accounting, sales, marketing, procurement, and R&D. As is well
known, entities can also be organized in terms of authority or delegation