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

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

A Descriptive Content Analysis of Trust-Building Measures in B2B Electronic Marketplaces

Because business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers, they strive to foster a trustworthy trading environment with a variety of trust-building measures. However, little research has been undertaken to explore trust-building measures used in B2B e-marketplaces, or to determine to what extent these measures are applied in B2B e-marketplaces and how they are applied. Based on reviews of the scholarly, trade, and professional literature on trust in electronic commerce, we identified 11 trust-building measures used to create trust in B2B e-marketplaces. Zucker\u27s trust production theory [1986] was applied to understand how these trust-building measures will enhance participants\u27 trust in buyers and sellers in B2B e-marketplaces or in B2B e-marketplace providers. A descriptive content analysis of 100 B2B e-marketplaces was conducted to survey the current usage of the 11 trust-building measures. Many of the trust-building measures were found to be widely used in the B2B e-marketplaces. However, although they were proven to be effective in building trust-related beliefs in online business environments, several institutional-based trust-building measures, such as escrow services, insurance and third-party assurance seals, are not widely used in B2B e-marketplaces

Explorations in Evolutionary Design of Online Auction Market Mechanisms

This paper describes the use of a genetic algorithm (GA) to find optimal parameter-values for trading agents that operate in virtual online auction “e-marketplaces”, where the rules of those marketplaces are also under simultaneous control of the GA. The aim is to use the GA to automatically design new mechanisms for agent-based e-marketplaces that are more efficient than online markets designed by (or populated by) humans. The space of possible auction-types explored by the GA includes the Continuous Double Auction (CDA) mechanism (as used in most of the world’s financial exchanges), and also two purely one-sided mechanisms. Surprisingly, the GA did not always settle on the CDA as an optimum. Instead, novel hybrid auction mechanisms were evolved, which are unlike any existing market mechanisms. In this paper we show that, when the market supply and demand schedules undergo sudden “shock” changes partway through the evaluation process, two-sided hybrid market mechanisms can evolve which may be unlike any human-designed auction and yet may also be significantly more efficient than any human designed market mechanism

A Multi-Criteria Approach to the Evaluation of Aviation e-marketplace portals

After a proliferation of logistics e-Marketplaces during the dot.com boom of 1998-2000, there has been a high rate of failure and survivals are developing much more slowly than expected. This is the case of aviation industry where a large number of B2B e-Marketplaces emerged according to the focus of aviation companies’ strategies on electronic B2B in the late 1990s. However, the current use of e-Marketplaces in the industry is low and many of them have ceased trading. The traditional e-Marketplaces model have been characterised by poor quality of portals and the lack of technical standards. Such an approach is unsustainable in today’s competitive scenario. Improvements in websites quality attributes may strongly contribute to simplify the website functionalities by users and speed-up communication with all supply chain parties. In such context, it appears of critical importance to develop models for the evaluation of e-Marketplaces web sites. This paper, after a discussion about the development of e-Marketplaces in the transport and logistics service industry and its application in the aviation industry, proposes a multi-criteria model for assessing e-Marketplaces portals that has been subsequently applied to three different types of aeronautic B2B e-Marketplaces

Types of business-to-business e-marketplaces: The role of a theory-based, domain-specific model

In this study, we seek to further our knowledge of e-marketplaces by exploring empirically the existence of different types of business-to-business e-marketplaces. We used the reference model for electronic markets [Schmid & Lindemann 1998] as the theoretical foundation for a domain-specific model that we used to develop a set of coherent types of e-marketplaces, based on data from 24 German e-marketplaces. Analysis using multi-dimensional scaling identified three types of e-marketplaces that differed on whether they were horizontal or vertical in nature, the services they provide, and whether they erect market barriers. Interestingly, these factors are those that managers can control most readily and that they can therefore vary to produce an e-marketplace tailored to their business. We present a theoretical analysis of our e-marketplace types based in the literature on managerial control. Our theoretical analysis, the three types of e-marketplace we determined, and the domain-specific e-marketplace model we derived to conduct our investigation, provide a foundation for creating a cumulative tradition in e-marketplace research

A model to enhance the perceived trustworthiness of Eastern Cape essential oil producers selling through electronic marketplaces

Eastern Cape Province farmers in the natural essential oils industry are yet to fully realise the use of electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms, such as electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) for business purposes. This is due to the issues that include lack of awareness, poor product quality, untrusted payment gateways and unsuccessful delivery that are associated with e-marketplaces. As a result, farmers do not trust e-marketplaces and therefore hesitate to engage in e-marketplaces for business purposes. This is further complicated by natural essential oils buyers‟ tendency of preferring face-to-face interaction with a supplier rather than online interaction as they need quality assurance. As such, this research proposes a model to enhance the perceived trustworthiness of natural essential oil producers in the Eastern Cape Province selling through e-marketplaces. The model constitutes the factors that could be considered in assisting essential oil producers to create a perception of trustworthiness to buyers in e-marketplaces. These factors were evaluated amongst five organisations involved in the production, retail or processing of essential oils using a multiple-case study methodology. The study‟s use of multiple-case study was applied within the interpretivist paradigm and five cases were considered. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using within-case analysis followed by cross-case analysis to establish factors of trust. The essential oil producers based in the Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces were cases that had been successfully using e-marketplaces for a notable period of time. Accordingly, factors that contributed to the successful use of e-marketplaces informed the proposed model of this research. The model proposes that perceived trustworthiness of enterprises in e-marketplaces can be achieved through following the uncertainty reduction stages (Entry, Personal and Exit) and applying uncertainty reduction strategies (passive, active and interactive)

Identifying the Value Contributions of e-Marketplaces at Various Stages of the Organisational Procurement ProcessIdentifying the Value Contributions of e-Marketplaces at Various Stages of the Organisational Procurement Process

E-marketplace platforms can be used to improve upon the procurement performance in an organization and offer key benefits such as reduced purchasing costs, better information, and better collaboration. While there are various studies discuss the benefits or value contributions that organisations can obtain from e-marketplaces, many organisations are reluctant to participate in e-marketplaces due to the mismatch between the value expected and the actual value experienced by organisations from e-marketplaces. Employing an in-depth case study approach, this study systematically identifies the value contributions of e-marketplaces used by the case organisation at the various stages of the procurement process for purchasing indirect goods. Our study findings demonstrate that e-marketplaces value contributions can be experienced by organisations in various stages of the procurement process, while each value can be experienced in multiple stages and each stage can experience multiple values. This study offers additional insights for both practitioners and researchers into the importance of e-marketplaces in supporting the procurement process and the values that can be expected at different stages of the procurement process

Assessing Aviation E-Marketplaces: a Mmulti-Criteria Approach.

After a proliferation of logistics e-Marketplaces during the dot.com boom of 1998-2000, there has been a high rate of failure and survivals are developing much more slowly than expected. This is the case in the aviation industry where a large number of B2B e-Marketplaces emerged according to the focus of aviation companies’ strategies on electronic B2B in the late 1990s. However, the current use of e-Marketplaces in the industry is low and many of them have ceased trading. The traditional e-Marketplaces model has been characterised by poor quality portals and a lack of technical standards. Such an approach is unsustainable in today’s competitive scenario. Improvements in website quality attributes may strongly contribute to the simplification of website functionality by users and speed up communication with all supply chain partners. In this context, it appears critical to develop models for the evaluation of e-Marketplace web sites. This chapter, after a discussion about the development of e-Marketplaces in the transport and logistics service industry and its application in the aviation industry, proposes a multi-criteria model for assessing different types of aeronautic B2B e-Marketplaces

Organizational factors for successful entering to e-marketplace: Case of large organizations in Slovenia

The appeal of doing business on the Web is clear. By bringing together large numbers of buyers and sellers and by automating transactions, e-marketplaces expand the choices available to buyers, give sellers access to new customers (buyers), and reduce transaction costs for all participants. Entering the e-marketplace is related to the business process of reengineering, connecting of information systems, gaining new knowledge with training and learning, and making investments in new information technologies and software. Such organization must take very careful steps to prepare itself for a successful entrance on the e-marketplace. Only this kind of approach will enable the organization the full use of the available opportunities and will bring expected business results. The paper presents the different types of e-marketplaces and the use of e-marketplaces for business. Furthermore, the results of the research that was done among 250 large organizations in Slovenia are presented. The current status of the use e-commerce and e-marketplaces in large organizations in Slovenia is introduced. In addition, organizational factors found by large organizations to be important for a successful entrance to the e-marketplaces are presented. We conclude the paper with recommendations for the organizations that intend to enter e-marketplace