Service-oriented collaboration framework based on cloud platform and critical factors identification

Previous studies normally investigate the collaboration elements associated with cloud platform from a single perspective, such as information, resource or business coordination, failing to examine service value chain collaboration from a systematic perspective. In fact, service value chain collaboration is affected by multidimensional factors and these factors often interact with each other. Considering collaboration elements separately is unfavorable to the value improvement of whole service chain. In this work, a collaborative service model is proposed from the dimensions of product life cycle, core service businesses and stakeholders through system engineering analysis, by which the multi-stakeholder and multi-process collaboration are illustrated. Then, a collaboration framework based on cloud platform is developed for service value chain with a comprehensive consideration of coordination mechanism, cloud platform services, businesses collaboration and goals collaboration. To determine the critical factors affecting service value chain collaboration, a hybrid methodology, which integrates Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM), is presented to identify the intensity of causal relationship and to develop the hierarchical structure among multi-dimensional collaboration elements. The results of the present work provide valuable insights into the overall implementation and practical operation of service value chain collaboration in the cloud platform environment, thereby accelerating the transformation of manufacturing industry into servitization.