Controlling and performance measurement within networks

There is in both literature and practice common agreement about the increasing importance of company networks and competition strategies. It is evident that only positive cost-benefit ratios will keep individual companies in the network. At the same time the management of the network has to make sure that every member company makes a certain contribution to the development and growth of the network. For these purposes it is necessary to measure any kind of network perfonnance into concrete numbers which are measurable. As found in our literature research, controlling within network organizations it a relatively new subject and not many researches are done in this field yet. In our presented case study we develop, implement and analyze a "Network Controlling System (NCS)" in cooperation with the "Virtuelle Fabrik NordwestschweizlMittelland", a virtual enterprise of 25 companies in the area of mechatronics in the Northwest Region of Switzerland.