Service Oriented Enterprise Engineering: Applying Viable System Approach (vSa) in Enterprise Engineering for Sourcing Decision Making

Componentization and service orientation are two key firm´s behavioral orientations to transform the traditional (rigid) enterprise model into a flexible (dynamic) one in order to support making successful sourcing decisions like sharing services, in-outsourcing, centralization-decentralization and globalization. According to these enablers, a subjective and dynamic view is needed to study the dynamic nature of enterprises and to interpret the complex emerging phenomena of componentization and service orientation such as dynamic configuration of resources (dynamic capabilities), internal and external interaction between components, service exchange and value creation. In this paper, our solution is applying viable system approach (vSa) in Enterprise Engineering, 1) as an interpretive approach to qualify the concepts of the complex emerging phenomena of componentization and service orientation, 2) as a governance approach to investigate the implications of the complex emerging phenomena for sourcing decision making like sharing, in-outsourcing, centralization-decentralization and globalization.