ANALYSIS OF SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE MARKETPLACES

As commercial e-commerce portals continue to grow in popularity among the acquisition workforce, it is imperative that the federal government ensures companies of all business sizes are able to compete fairly. This research examines the current framework of platform providers and makes recommendations on how small businesses can be better utilized without sacrificing competition, while keeping an extensive industry base and receiving best value for both the taxpayer and warfighter.Civilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Public eTendering in Portugal: vortalGOV® Case Study

Vortal is the leader in electronic platform operations for public and private market contracting in Portugal and one of four international reference points in electronic public contracting. In 2004, after having achieved a wealth of private market experience acquired through electronic market operations within the construction sector through its brand Econstroi, Vortal launched a new brand, vortalGOV, which is specifically aimed a the public sector and indeed the first ever electronic public tender in Portugal was launched through this Vortal platform. In 2008 a new public contract law came into force directing all entities linked to electronic contracting platform use to formalise pre-contracting. Furthermore, that same law specified that platforms should not charge the economical operators, the suppliers, any fees to access their basic services. In other words, revenues from the Public eTendering platforms should only come from public entities awarding the contracts. In 2009, order to meet these new legal requirements, Vortal launched its free Universal service. In 2010, Vortal decided to contract the services of a specialist company to carry out a satisfaction survey of its Universal clients. The Vortal Board of Directors sought to evaluate possible scenarios for the development of the public sector market drawing on the experience the company had acquired in the private market. The vortalGOV case study aims to stimulate reflection on the innovation surrounding the legal limitations of business operations, based on an analysis of customer value.A Vortal é a empresa líder na operação de plataformas electrónicas de contratação nos mercados público e privado em Portugal e uma das 4 referências internacionais em Contratação Pública Electrónica. Com uma vasta experiência no mercado privado, adquirido através da operação do mercado electrónico para o sector da Construção, o econstroi, a Vortal lançou em 2004 o vortalGOV, para o sector público. O primeiro concurso público electrónico em Portugal foi lançado através da plataforma da Vortal. Em 2008 foi publicada a nova lei dos contratos públicos que obriga todas as entidades vinculadas à utilização de plataformas electrónicas de contratação pública para formalização dos procedimentos de pré-contratação. Esta mesma lei indicada ainda que as plataformas não poderiam cobrar qualquer valor aos operadores económicos, os fornecedores, para acesso aos serviços básicos das mesmas. Isto é, as receitas das plataformas de contratação electrónica seriam apenas provenientes das entidades públicas adjudicantes. Para fazer face a esta contingência, a Vortal lançou logo em 2009 o serviço Universal, gratuito, de acordo com todos os requisitos da lei em vigor. Em 2010 a Vortal decidiu solicitar os serviços de uma empresa especializada para fazer um inquérito à satisfação dos seus clientes Universais. A Administração da Vortal pretende avaliar os cenários possíveis para desenvolver o mercado do sector público a partir da experiência adquirida no mercado privado. O caso de estudo do vortalGOV pretende estimular uma reflexão em torno da inovação em torno de limitações legais à operação do negócio, em função da análise de valor para o cliente

Review of Literature and Curricula in Smart Supply Chain & Transportation

This study provides a review of existing smart supply chain management (SCM) literature and current course offerings in order to identify unexplored implications of smart SCM. Specifically, the study focuses on curricula within the state of California to derive potential opportunities for the relevant practitioners in the Bay Area. In addition, the study further extends curriculum review to other well-recognized SCM programs around the U.S. By exploring current relevant course offerings from different academic institutions for higher education (i.e., universities), this research aims to deliver general ideas useful to knowledge practitioners in fields concerning SCM. Finally, the research illustrates a conceptual framework aimed at fostering familiarity with the necessary research topics for the evolving smart SCM

Comparing Koha and Software for University Libraries (SOUL): A Comprehensive Analysis of Their Functional Modules

In the ever-evolving landscape of library management systems, the choice of the most suitable solution can significantly impact the efficiency and effectiveness of a library\u27s daily operations. This in-depth practical analysis compares the key functional modules of two prominent contenders, Koha and SOUL 3.0, providing valuable insights for librarians and decision-makers in their selection process. Koha, an open-source Integrated Library System (ILS), offers a flexible, cost-effective platform with extensive modules for libraries of varying sizes. SOUL 3.0, a commercial system, focuses on innovation and seamless integration, emphasizing user experience and efficiency. The analysis delves into their hardware and software requirements, core modules such as acquisition, cataloguing, circulation, and more, and highlights their strengths and unique offerings. By understanding the features and implications of each system, libraries can make informed decisions to optimize resource management, improve user experiences, and embrace a more vibrant and technologically adept future

Semantic and Syntactic Matching of Heterogeneous e-Catalogues

In e-procurement, companies use e-catalogues to exchange product infor-mation with business partners. Matching e-catalogues with product requests helps the suppliers to identify the best business opportunities in B2B e-Marketplaces. But various ways to specify products and the large variety of e-catalogue formats used by different business actors makes it difficult. This Ph.D. thesis aims to discover potential syntactic and semantic rela-tionships among product data in procurement documents and exploit it to find similar e-catalogues. Using a Concept-based Vector Space Model, product data and its semantic interpretation is used to find the correlation of product data. In order to identify important terms in procurement documents, standard e-catalogues and e-tenders are used as a resource to train a Product Named Entity Recognizer to find B2B product mentions in e-catalogues. The proposed approach makes it possible to use the benefits of all availa-ble semantic resources and schemas but not to be dependent on any specific as-sumption. The solution can serve as a B2B product search system in e-Procurement platforms and e-Marketplaces

Analysis of Current Supplier Relationship Management Practices: A Solution Proposal

The work contributes with the existing literature by investigating current SRM practices. Based on the research, the author has designed an information system framework, which provides companies with an innovative SRM solution to manage their indirect material purchasing process through an environment that supports companies entire plan-to-order activities, including functionalities such as central data management, spend data management, e-sourcing and the usual e-procurement features

An initial analysis of E-procurement search behaviour

Procurement or tender search is where suppliers seek opportunities for providing goods, works or services that authorities, organisations and businesses require. Such opportunities are listed as procurement contract notices for which suppliers can submit tenders. Typically, an E-Procurement system is used to help find and carry out one or more of the stages involved in the procurement process (from finding potential opportunities, bidding on such opportunities, to delivering the goods, works or services, i.e. find, win, deliver). Such systems are crucial in enabling suppliers to efficiently search through the available listings of procurement contract notices listed across various public and commercial portals. However, little research has investigated how end-users search for such opportunities. In this paper, we perform a descriptive analysis of the professional search behaviours of suppliers using a bespoke e-procurement system. Our analysis is based on a sub-sample of six months of search log interaction data. First, we provide an overview of the usage patterns of our sample of users before investigating how the behaviour of searchers is influenced by the type of search form used (quick vs advanced), user expertise (new vs experienced), and the domain of the procurement notices (General, Defence, Medical, etc.). Our findings highlight that more experienced searchers appear to be more strategic than less experienced searchers and that searchers behave differently depending on the domain in terms of querying and assessing behaviours. This analysis suggests that e-procurement search engines need to be mindful of the differences across searchers and between domains when designing a system to help support their users

Flexible Decision Control in an Autonomous Trading Agent

An autonomous trading agent is a complex piece of software that must operate in a competitive economic environment and support a research agenda. We describe the structure of decision processes in the MinneTAC trading agent, focusing on the use of evaluators – configurable, composable modules for data analysis and prediction that are chained together at runtime to support agent decision-making. Through a set of examples, we show how this structure supports sales and procurement decisions, and how those decision processes can be modified in useful ways by changing evaluator configurations. To put this work in context, we also report on results of an informal survey of agent design approaches among the competitors in the Trading Agent Competition for Supply Chain Management (TAC SCM).autonomous trading agent;decision processes

Business plan: Boutique 0

This project consists in the development of a business plan to launch "BOUTIQUE 0", an ecommerce outlet dropship business that helps Portuguese fashion manufacturers destocking, by selling Portuguese designs and brands at discount prices. "BOUTIQUE 0" aims to digitalize the Portuguese fashion outlet market’s landscape, giving Portuguese manufacturers and brands access to an all year long solution to sell their held stocks, and provide buyers the chance of accessing high quality fashion products from Portuguese manufacturers at low prices. The main objective of this project is to assess the viability and implementation strategy of "BOUTIQUE 0", defining a plan to bring this new business to market, including strategic, marketing, technological, organizational and financial considerations. To support this business plan, a literature review on E-commerce, Business Plans and Dropship Logistic Models was conducted. Also, to analyze the opportunities and difficulties of this market and decide on the implementation strategy of "BOUTIQUE 0", a deep research was carried out on the fashion ecommerce market in Portugal, the online outlet competition and best practices, technologic solutions and possible partners, amongst others. Following this research and reflection, the implementation policies were defined, and, in the end, a financial evaluation was developed to conclude on the viability of this project.Este projeto consiste na elaboração de um plano de negócios para o lançamento da empresa "BOUTIQUE 0", um negócio online de venda de stocks de produtores e marcas portuguesas a baixo preço. "BOUTIQUE 0" pretende trazer o mercado de moda outlet portuguesa para o online, apresentando aos produtores e marcas portuguesas, uma solução que lhes permita escoar os seus stocks durante todo o ano sem estarem dependentes dos pontuais stock markets e proporcionando aos consumidores a oportunidade de comprar produtos produtos portugueses de elevada qualidade a preços baixos. O objetivo deste plano de negócios é analisar a viabilidade e estratégia de implementação da "BOUTIQUE 0", elaborando um plano de lançamento deste novo negócio, incluindo considerações estratégicas, de marketing, tecnológicas, organizacionais e financeiras. Para dar suporte a este plano de negócios, foi realizada a revisão de literatura de conceitos chave como Comércio Eletrónico, Planos de Negócio e o Modelo Logístico de Dropshipping. Para além disso, como base à análise de oportunidades e dificuldades neste mercado e decisão da estratégia de implementação, foi efetuada uma análise aprofundada do mercado de moda online em Portugal, da concorrência online de moda outlet e melhores práticas, soluções tecnológicas e possíveis parceiros, entre outros. Após esta análise e reflexão, foi definida a estratégia de implementação e no final, uma avaliação financeira para comprovar a viabilidade do projeto

The Lightly Manned Autonomous Combat Capability (LMACC)

Panel #6: Unmanned Vehicles in a Model Based Systems Engineering UniverseAcquisition Research: Creating Synergy for Informed Change. 17th Annual Acquisition Research Symposiu