This book provides the latest models, methods and guidelines for networked enterprises to enhance their competitiveness and move towards innovative high performance and agile industrial systems. In the new global market, competitiveness and economic growth rely greatly on the move toward innovative high performance industrial systems and agile networked enterprises through the creation and consolidation of non–hierarchical manufacturing networks of multi–national SMEs as opposed to networks based on powerful large–scale companies. Network performance can be significantly improved through more harmonious and equitable peer–to–peer inter–enterprise relationships, conforming decentralized and collaborative decision–making models. Traditional hierarchical manufacturing networks are based on centralized models, where some of the actors involved must adapt themselves to the constraints defined by those who are most dominant. Real–world experiences of such models have revealed some major problems due to the centralized vision of the supply chain and the sub–optimal performance of centralized decision–making. For the current highly dynamic markets, this generates major inefficiencies in operation throughout the supply chain. This book collects the latest research regarding non–hierarchical manufacturing networks and provides enterprises with valuable models, methods and guidelines to improve their competitiveness.

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