Embedded Coordination in a Business Network

Information and communication technology enables a firm to maintain more links with more companies at much lower costs than before. This combined with the increasingly standardization of business processes and the application of modularity at the process level leads to embedded coordination. This case study describes how three unconnected business networks were integrated using modularity at the business process, or activity component, level and the role standardization played to implement embedded coordination. The case study was conducted at ABZ, a trusted Business Service Provisioner in the Dutch insurance industry. This study suggests that embedded coordination leads to improved performance of the business network under the condition that standardization is enforced.