Agent fabrication and its implementation for agent-based electronic commerce

In the last decade, agent-based e-commerce has emerged as a potential role for the next generation of e-commerce. How to create agents for e-commerce applications has become a serious consideration in this field. This paper proposes a new scheme named agent fabrication and elaborates its implementation in multi-agent systems based on the SAFER (Secure Agent Fabrication, Evolution & Roaming) architecture. First, a conceptual structure is proposed for software agents carrying out e-commerce activities. Furthermore, agent module suitcase is defined to facilitate agent fabrication. With these definitions and facilities in the SAFER architecture, the formalities of agent fabrication are elaborated. In order to enhance the security of agent-based e-commerce, an infrastructure of agent authorization and authentication is integrated in agent fabrication. Our implementation and prototype applications show that the proposed agent fabrication scheme brings forth a potential solution for creating agents in agent-based e-commerce applications

Spirits in a Material World: Intelligent Agents as Intermediaries in Electronic Commerce

The article provides an in-depth analysis of the contract issues peculiar to automated electronic commerce. The aim of the study is to provide a critical evaluation of the various solutions that might be adopted by a legislature seeking to cure formal defects in agreements that are negotiated and entered into by software programs, independent of human review. The author begins with an examination of the current state of the technology that automates electronic commerce, offering some speculation as to its future development. He then outlines the barriers to automated electronic commerce inherent in traditional contract doctrine. He argues against the proposal to cure doctrinal difficulties by deeming electronic devices to be legal persons and investigates the merit of the legislative approaches adopted by UNCITRAL, the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws (U.S.), and the Uniform Law Conference of Canada. He ends by advocating an alternative approach, based on the law of agency

Real-world agent mediated electronic marketplace

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-86).by Keith D. Smith.M.Eng

Intelligent agents, markets and competition

Strategisch onderzoek naar de ontwikkelingen op de markt voor intelligent agents. Intelligent Agents kunnen enorme invloed krijgen in de business-to-consumer Internethandel. Veel hangt daarbij af van hoe aanbieders hun producten aanbieden op het Internet. In de reisbranche zijn de mogelijkheden voor productori�ntatie en -aankoop op de websites van reisaanbieders nog beperkt. Op boekensites is meer informatie voorhanden. Hier hebben agents slechts een beperkte functie, omdat onderscheid tussen boekaanbieders enkel op prijs is te maken.

The First 25 Years of the Bled eConference: Themes and Impacts

The Bled eConference is the longest-running themed conference associated with the Information Systems discipline. The focus throughout its first quarter-century has been the application of electronic tools, migrating progressively from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) via Inter-Organisational Systems (IOS) and eCommerce to encompass all aspects of the use of networking facilities in industry and government, and more recently by individuals, groups and society as a whole. This paper reports on an examination of the conference titles and of the titles and abstracts of the 773 refereed papers published in the Proceedings since 1995. This identified a long and strong focus on categories of electronic business and corporate perspectives, which has broadened in recent years to encompass the democratic, the social and the personal. The conference\u27s extend well beyond the papers and their thousands of citations and tens of thousands of downloads. Other impacts have included innovative forms of support for the development of large numbers of graduate students, and the many international research collaborations that have been conceived and developed in a beautiful lake-side setting in Slovenia

Blockchain-based reputation models for e-commerce: a systematic literature review

The Digital Age is the present, and nobody can deny that. With it has come a digital transformation in various sectors of activity, and e-commerce is no exception. Over the last few decades, there has been a massive increase in its utilization rates, as it has several advantages over traditional commerce. At the same time, the rise in the number of crimes on the Internet and, consequently, the understanding of the risks involved in online shopping has led consumers to become more cautious, looking for information about the seller and taking it into account when making a purchase decision. The need to get to know the merchant better before making a purchase decision has encouraged the creation of reputation systems, whose services play an essential role in today's e-commerce context. Reputation systems act as mechanisms to reduce information asymmetry between consumers and sellers and establish rankings that attest to fulfilling standards and policies considered necessary for shops operating in the digital market. The critical problems in current reputation systems are the frauds and attacks that such systems currently have to deal with, which results in a lack of trust between users. These security and fraud issues are critical because users' trust is commonly based on reputation models, and many of these current systems are not immune to them, thus compromising e-commerce growth. The need for a better and safer model emerges with the development of e-commerce. Through reading the articles and pursuing the answers to the primary questions, blockchain is data register technology to be analysed in order to gain a better acknowledgment of the potential of such technology. More research work and investigation must be done to fully understand how to create a more assertive reputation model. Thus, this study systematizes the knowledge generated by reputation models in E-commerce studies in Scopus, WoS databases, and Google Scholar, using PRISMA methodology. A systematic approach was adopted in conducting a literature review. The need for a systematic literature review came from the knowledge that there are reputation systems that mitigate some of the problems. In addition to identifying some indicators used in reputation models, we also conclude that these models could help provide some insurance to buyers and sellers, with a commitment to being a problem solver, being able to mitigate known problems such as Collusion, Sybil attacks, laundering attacks, and preventing online fraud ranging from ballot stuffing and bad-mouthing. Nevertheless, the results of the present work demonstrate that even though these reputation models still cannot solve all of the problems, attacking one fraud opens the door to an attack. The architecture of the models was identified, with the realization that a few lacks that need to be fulfilled

Next Generation Business Ecosystems: Engineering Decentralized Markets, Self-Sovereign Identities and Tokenization

Digital transformation research increasingly shifts from studying information systems within organizations towards adopting an ecosystem perspective, where multiple actors co-create value. While digital platforms have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in consumer-facing industries, organizations remain cautious about fully embracing the ecosystem concept and sharing data with external partners. Concerns about the market power of platform orchestrators and ongoing discussions on privacy, individual empowerment, and digital sovereignty further complicate the widespread adoption of business ecosystems, particularly in the European Union. In this context, technological innovations in Web3, including blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, have emerged as potential catalysts for disrupting centralized gatekeepers and enabling a strategic shift towards user-centric, privacy-oriented next-generation business ecosystems. However, existing research efforts focus on decentralizing interactions through distributed network topologies and open protocols lack theoretical convergence, resulting in a fragmented and complex landscape that inadequately addresses the challenges organizations face when transitioning to an ecosystem strategy that harnesses the potential of disintermediation. To address these gaps and successfully engineer next-generation business ecosystems, a comprehensive approach is needed that encompasses the technical design, economic models, and socio-technical dynamics. This dissertation aims to contribute to this endeavor by exploring the implications of Web3 technologies on digital innovation and transformation paths. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, it makes three overarching contributions: First, a conceptual perspective on \u27tokenization\u27 in markets clarifies its ambiguity and provides a unified understanding of the role in ecosystems. This perspective includes frameworks on: (a) technological; (b) economic; and (c) governance aspects of tokenization. Second, a design perspective on \u27decentralized marketplaces\u27 highlights the need for an integrated understanding of micro-structures, business structures, and IT infrastructures in blockchain-enabled marketplaces. This perspective includes: (a) an explorative literature review on design factors; (b) case studies and insights from practitioners to develop requirements and design principles; and (c) a design science project with an interface design prototype of blockchain-enabled marketplaces. Third, an economic perspective on \u27self-sovereign identities\u27 (SSI) as micro-structural elements of decentralized markets. This perspective includes: (a) value creation mechanisms and business aspects of strategic alliances governing SSI ecosystems; (b) business model characteristics adopted by organizations leveraging SSI; and (c) business model archetypes and a framework for SSI ecosystem engineering efforts. The dissertation concludes by discussing limitations as well as outlining potential avenues for future research. These include, amongst others, exploring the challenges of ecosystem bootstrapping in the absence of intermediaries, examining the make-or-join decision in ecosystem emergence, addressing the multidimensional complexity of Web3-enabled ecosystems, investigating incentive mechanisms for inter-organizational collaboration, understanding the role of trust in decentralized environments, and exploring varying degrees of decentralization with potential transition pathways