A Configurable Matchmaking Framework for Electronic Marketplaces

E-marketplaces constitute a major enabler of B2B and B2C e-commerce activities. This paper proposes a framework for one of the central activities of e-marketplaces: matchmaking of trading intentions lodged by market participants. The framework identifies a core set of concepts and functions that are common to all types of marketplaces and can serve as the basis for describing the distinct styles of matchmaking employed within various market mechanisms. A prototype implementation of the framework based on Web services technology is presented, illustrating its ability to be dynamically configured to meet specific market needs and its potential to serve as a foundation for more fully fledged e-marketplace frameworks

Matchmaking Framework for B2B E-Marketplaces

In the recent years trading on the Internet become more popular. Online businesses gradually replace more and more from the conventional business. Much commercial information is exchanged on the internet, especially using the e-marketplaces. The demand and supply matching process becomes complex and difficult on last twenty years since the e-marketplaces play an important role in business management. Companies can achieve significant cost reduction by using e-marketplaces in their trade activities and by using matchmaking systems on finding the corresponding supply for their demand and vice versa. In the literature were proposed many approaches for matchmaking. In this paper we present a conceptual framework of matchmaking in B2B e-marketplaces environment.B2B Electronic Marketplaces, Conceptual Framework, Matchmaking, Multi- Objective Genetic Algorithm, Pareto Optimal

Semantic Matchmaking as Non-Monotonic Reasoning: A Description Logic Approach

Matchmaking arises when supply and demand meet in an electronic marketplace, or when agents search for a web service to perform some task, or even when recruiting agencies match curricula and job profiles. In such open environments, the objective of a matchmaking process is to discover best available offers to a given request. We address the problem of matchmaking from a knowledge representation perspective, with a formalization based on Description Logics. We devise Concept Abduction and Concept Contraction as non-monotonic inferences in Description Logics suitable for modeling matchmaking in a logical framework, and prove some related complexity results. We also present reasonable algorithms for semantic matchmaking based on the devised inferences, and prove that they obey to some commonsense properties. Finally, we report on the implementation of the proposed matchmaking framework, which has been used both as a mediator in e-marketplaces and for semantic web services discovery

Intelligent Agents to Support Information Sharing in B2B E-Marketplaces

This article proposes an architecture to support information and knowledge exchange between collaborating business partners. The focus is on knowledge representation and exchange by intelligent agents to support collaborative business functions through agents that exchange problem-specific information in standardized formats. The article then shows the application of the proposed architecture in the context of an infomediary-based B2B E-marketplace

Web service for knowledge management in e-marketplaces

A common strategic initiative of organizations engaged in electronic business (e-business) is the development of synergistic relations with collaborating value-chain partners to deliver their value proposition to customers. This requires the transparent flow of problem specific knowledge to partner organizations over highly integrated information systems. Transparent exchange of information and knowledge across collaborating organizations requires technological foundations for integrating business processes using software architectures built upon industry standards. The unambiguously interpretable flow of knowledge to inform online business processes is a challenging task with significant competitive benefits for organizations that take technical initiative. Infomediary organizations can serve the e-business need for exchange of knowledge and information through value-added knowledge services to participating firms in the value chain through intelligent software systems integrated with the Web Services Architecture. We define knowledge services as the "exchange of problem domain-specific knowledge to inform decision activities of specific e-business processes, facilitated by an infomediary using intelligent software systems and the Web Services Architecture." This research presents a knowledge services framework, founded on the Web Services Architecture, to enable the transparent exchange of knowledge between intelligent software systems that manage processes of organizations engaged in e-business in the knowledge-based economy. The objective is to enable informed and knowledge-based discovery of business partners from among the multitude online, and to support knowledge-rich e-business processes that cut across the value chain and deliver the value proposition to the customer

Agents in E-Supply Chains: Realizing the potential of intelligent infomediary-based e-marketplaces

Supply chain management is a common strategy employed by businesses to improve organizational processes by optimizing the transfer of goods, information, and services between buyers and suppliers in the value chain [6]. Organizational value chains routinely extend business processes and information flows beyond corporate boundaries [7, 12]. A central tenet of this article lies in creating information transparency through effective integration of information flows by intelligent agents across the multiple electronic market- places (e-marketplaces) that comprise the e-chain. Here, we refer to information transparency across the e-chain as the availability of information through the multiple e-marketplaces of the supply chain in an unambiguously interpretable format. A fundamental ongoing endeavor of supply chain management is to foster information transparency that allows organizations to coordinate supply chain interactions efficiently in dynamic market conditions. However, the implementation of effective information transparency in Internet-enabled supply chains (e-chains) remains elusive. Even if this transparency were present, the information overload would be cognitively demanding for human decision makers