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This paper aims to provide a simple and accurate higher order predictor‐corrector integration which can be used in dynamic analysis and to compare it with the previous works.

The predictor‐corrector integration is defined by combining the higher order explicit and implicit integrations in which displacement and velocity are assumed to be functions of accelerations of several previous time steps. By studying the accuracy and stability conditions, the weighted factors and acceptable time step are determined.

Simplicity and vector operations plus accuracy and stability are the main specifications of the new predictor‐corrector method. This procedure can be used in linear and nonlinear dynamic analysis.

In the proposed integration, time step is assumed to be constant.

The numerical integration is the heart of a dynamic analysis. The result's accuracy is strongly influenced by the accuracy and stability of the numerical integration.

This paper presents simple and accurate predictor‐corrector integration based on accelerations of several previous time steps. This may be used as a routine in any dynamic analysis software to enhance accuracy and reduce computational time.

A major problem of operational control in the services industry is the integration of customers in the delivery process. The aim of this paper is to develop a method that allows service companies to evaluate the impact of customer integration on operational control in service processes.

The development of the proposed method follows a design science approach. Thus, the method is conceptualised on the basis of production, services and information systems research. A case study of loan processing in a bank serves to evaluate the applicability of the method.

As a result of this study, customer integration should be included into operational control following three steps: identification of the type of customer integration; quantification and characterisation of the impact of the integration; and identification of the appropriate mechanisms of operational control to deal with the customer integration better. The results of the case study show that customer integration has an impact on certain activities within a service process only but the results can be used to enhance operational control.

The method can be used by process managers of service companies to identify the impact of customer integration on operational control. Thus, decisions within operational control and consequently the overall productivity of a service process can be improved.

The paper delivers a new insight how customer integration and operational control can be linked in service processes. Thus, a theoretical gap in service operations literature is filled. Furthermore, the case study demonstrates how the method can be used in practice.

Aims at providing a classification of the ERP integration concept in a healthcare organization and at presenting a real world example of process integration using SAP R/3.

Research is based on a case study involving in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with key stakeholders and action research conducted in the hospital during the ERP implementation period.

Findings suggest that an apparently simple software implementation of an ordering process can have a considerable impact on stakeholders in a complex environment operating ERP software. Organizational change issues, implementation and integration issues of SAP R/3 with other non‐SAP systems and SCM considerations are discussed.

Analyzes enterprise integration concept specifically in a healthcare environment and describes a real world process integration solution (missing from the literature) achieved by using SAP R/3 software.

Managing firms in complex contexts demands high levels of integration. In order to satisfy this increasing need, firms facing competitive environments are extensively investing in IT, namely in ERP systems. As matter of fact, the mere implementation of ERP systems can only support one of the dimensions through which integration is enacted: the information dimension. Other dimensions (cognitive and managerial) have to be reinforced in order to get effective integration. Moving from the proposition of a multidimensional concept of organizational integration, the paper analyses the integrative properties of process based performance measurement systems. It is contended that process based performance measures, on the one hand, make processes visible and relevant to people, so addressing their decisions and actions in an integrative perspective; on the other hand, the same measures drive performance improvement based upon effective integration. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part proposes a multidimensional view of the concept of integration. The second part presents a framework for the design of process based performance measurement systems. The third part discusses the case of a large multinational chemical company that has re‐focused its performance management systems on the process dimension, after the partially successful implementation of a company wide ERP system.

The paper aims to give a quantitative assessment of the benefits obtainable by using information and communication technologies to integrate the order‐to‐payment process involving manufacturers and specialized retailers in the home appliances industry.

Standard business processes were defined and activity base costing was applied to develop the cost model with the support, i.e. validation and data provision of most of the companies operating in the Italian home appliances market.

The bottom line is €96 per order‐to‐payment cycle in the conventional, paper‐based scenario, compared to €23 in the integrated scenario involving the exchange of structured electronic documents. The potential savings amount to about 80 per cent of the costs, almost equally shared between the retailer and the manufacturer. A significant part of the benefits comes from the reduction in the management costs of non‐conformity issues.

The assessment considers only tangible benefits and does not include more intangible advantages, such as cycle time reduction, compliance with regulation and easier and faster accessibility to documents.

The paper measures the benefits of using trade process integration technologies and presents a methodology that can be applied to other industries and to particular supply chains. The difficulties in assessing the benefits have been claimed to be one of the main barriers to adoption.

The paper provides a model to assess the order‐to‐payment cycle costs, considering both the costs of the “perfect cycle” (where no errors occur) and the cost of managing non‐conformities. At present, there is no benchmark available in the literature for the order‐to‐payment cycle costs in conventional and integrated conditions that could help companies to assess the expected benefits of integration.

To develop order adaptive integration rule without limitation requiring that the number of equally spaced nodes must be a divisible numeral. Such integration technique could be of great practical value for different engineering applications where partition adaptability is impossible and use of standard high order integration techniques is unfeasible due to the fact that a significant number of nodes at the end of the sampling sequence must be deleted until the needed divisibility of the number of nodes is achieved.

Finite element approximation is used for the subdivision of the domain of integration and the development of order adaptive integration rule.

New integration rule is developed. It has a number of interesting features. Weights of the internal nodes are equivalent and equal to one. That makes the computational implementation of the integration rule very easy. Weights not equal to one are located only at the beginning and at the end of the sequence and are symmetric. For an m‐th order rule the number of weights not equal to one is 2m if m is odd.

For different engineering applications where the integration order can be controlled without changing the number of nodes, especially for real time applications where the number of discrete samples is unknown before the experiment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential role of innovativeness in determining supply chain (SC) integration and to foster the SC performance of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study also proposes that the SC integration–performance relationship is contingent to the degree of environmental uncertainty (EU).

The data were collected from 321 manufacturing SMEs working in Pakistan. Respondents were owners/CEOs/managers of the firms. Considering the formative nature of indicators of SC efficiency and effectiveness, partial least square-based structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data.

The results indicate that innovativeness positively influences the dimensions of SC integration which in turn affects SC efficiency and effectiveness. The results support the presence of moderation for the relationship between the dimensions of both SC integration and performance. The findings suggest that firms should endeavor to accomplish innovativeness and SC integration, as they jointly promote SC performance.

SMEs can use innovativeness as an important tool to increase SC integration and SC performance. For SMEs with a highly volatile and dynamic environment, managers should achieve SC integration and include external integration orientation at the strategic level in order to reap the greatest advantages from SC integration.

This study contributes to the SC literature by exploring the effect of the nascent determinant (innovativeness) of SC practices and performance to expand and deepen current understanding of the potential role of innovativeness in the SC context. Furthermore, considering EU as a moderator opens up new avenues of research to elucidate the SC integration–performance nexus in the emerging market context.

This work has two main objectives: to obtain a set of scales for measuring the patterns, attitudes and practices of integration that can be extrapolated to different scopes (both internal and external) and participants (supplier and customer) within the supply chain; and to evaluate the relations between the different components of integration.

Based on previous literature on the content, measurement and scope of the concept of integration, a model is presented and tested using structural equation modelling. Data were collected from 450 enterprises from the Spanish construction materials sector.

The authors' results suggest that integration is a multidimensional concept that covers the different organisational levels of the company: corporate through attitudes; strategic through patterns; and operative through practices. These components have a different structure and, although attitudes and patterns behave similarly, practices do not, and so there is no single dimension of integration that includes the three levels. With regard to scope, internal and external integration are related but do not constitute one single concept of integration. It therefore cannot be measured as a single dimension in order to relate the integration of the firm with its (corporate, logistic or marketing) performance.

From a methodological point of view, data were collected from a single sector, in a single moment in time and with a single respondent in each company.

Patterns and attitudes have a complete, corporative and strategic content, whereas practices are independent from each other and have a more operational vision.

Unlike studies that analyse integration and its relationship with outcomes, this work focuses on the concept of integration itself by analysing its three components. Thus, it extends the study of internal and external integration and focuses on the behaviour of the enterprise with two different members of the supply chain (suppliers and customers), thereby extending the analysis beyond the dyad.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of manufacturing planning and control (MPC) process integration on information quality (IQ).

Two case studies are conducted in the aerospace industry. The paper examines the influence of internal and external, and technical and organisational integration on the IQ perceived in the MPC processes.

The paper posits links between high‐integration levels and low IQ deficiency levels.

The theoretical framework developed in this study is applicable to most industries. The case implications are based on the aerospace industry. For future research, a multi‐industry survey study supporting the theoretical framework is suggested, explaining the adaptations needed in different environments and testing the propositions derived in this paper.

Production, logistics and supply chain professionals' understanding of the relationships between integration and the level of IQ can be improved. Considerations about strategic development towards a required level and type of integration in order to support better IQ levels could be simplified by using the framework and results provided.

There has been little previous research on the links between integration level and the level of IQ. In this paper, structured frameworks of both integration and IQ are used to provide insights on and describe the relationships between integration and the quality of information.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how to integrate the performance management (PM) process of delivery service in customer/supplier dyads.

The paper is based on a multiple case study of six customer/supplier dyads of manufacturing companies.

The analysis focuses on describing and comparing the activities of the PM process. Most activities show low levels of integration in the dyads studied. Defining metrics and target setting are considered most important to integrate. Lack of common metrics definitions and ERP deficiencies were important obstacles for integration. Research issues related to four areas of supply chain PM are discussed.

The study ends with a number of suggestions for further research on the PM process in supply chains. Proceeding into these studies is necessary for increasing knowledge about PM.

The paper reveals practical problems and outlines practical issues in integrating and handling the PM process in dyads, especially when measuring delivery service using the on‐time delivery metric. It also presents a model for describing and integrating the PM process and its activities.

Practical implications and generation of multiple issues for further research applying a dyadic approach in supply chain PM, a research approach that is quite uncommon.