The Impact of Enterprise Architecture on Inter-Organizational Collaboration

Introduction and Purpose: Organizational cooperation emerges as a tool that allows members of the cooperation network to make decisions based on shared information and two-way exchanges, which coordinate and synchronize activities with the aim of attracting market satisfaction and increasing shared profits. Cooperation networks are formed by organizations that have a prior desire to cooperate with each other in order to achieve their common interests by using information technology and through joint decision-making and effective participation. This research aims to investigate cooperation networks (CNs) and the cooperation process that allows them to increase interaction in the environment. These new tools are based on enterprise architecture (EA). On the other hand, organizations that cooperate with other organizations to gain a competitive advantage and deal with environmental complexities each have their own unique organizational architecture. Investigating the effect of this organizational architecture on the cooperation network architecture of organizations is the target of this research. In this regard, by reviewing the theoretical literature and using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) method, a framework has been developed to examine the impact of the organization's information technology architecture on the architecture of inter-organizational cooperation. The results of this research show five dimensions of organization architecture and six dimensions of inter-organizational cooperation architecture and how they are leveled and related in the form of a final model. The insight that this framework provides to organizations can help in better designing the architecture of the organization to enjoy effective cooperation and the benefits of it. Enterprise architecture is a continuous process after initiation. Establishing such a process involves interacting with different dimensions of the organization. Therefore, the cultural, human, technical, structural, and event dimensions throughout the organization are fundamental issues in the successful implementation of organizational architecture. Considering that the implementation of organizational architecture is costly, its poor implementation provides many problems for the organization.
Findings: In the subject of common information technology, we strengthen and precisely specify the legal dimensions, standards, control guidelines, time frames, and the form of situations. MICMAC analysis showed that the components of the content model (conceptual description) of the organization's architecture, the logical model (systemic description) of the organization's architecture, and business strategies of cooperation have the greatest influence on other components and are key components in forming the cooperation process. Other investigated components have high power of penetration and dependence and are located in the connected area, having two-way communication with each other. Based on the research results, the following suggestions were made: Technology plays a very important role in developing inter-organizational cooperation, so organizations should design inter-organizational information systems. Among the level 1 factors, knowledge cooperation is the most influential on inter-organizational cooperation. Therefore, in organizational architecture, the mechanisms of knowledge production, acquisition, and application should be anticipated. Designing and establishing specific processes for inter-organizational cooperation is a necessity that must be considered by organizations in the design of organizational architecture.