INFORMS Dallas 1997 Cluster: Electronic Commerce

MA19.1 TUTORIAL: Electronic Commerce Andrew B. Whinston --- Univ. of TX, MSIS Dept., Coll. of Bus. Admin., Austin, TX 78712-1175, (abw@uts.cc.utexas.edu)

The emergence of electronic commerce as an active commerical area¨ has opened up many new research challenges. We outline some of the¨ topics and suggest approaches to their solution. Successful solution¨ will draw upon the fields of computer science for technology and¨ economics to describe the business value. Some examples are in¨ real-time network management, competitive analysis of electronic¨ based companies and real-time demand estimation for digital¨ products...

MC19.1 A Consolidator Approach to Agent Coalition Formation & Negotiation Bill Robinson --- GA State Univ., CIS Dept., , ,

We define an automated buyer agent which negotiates contracts with¨ potential suppliers on behalf of distributed individuals. The agent¨ engages an iterative, preference learning process to derive¨ potential buyer groups, followed by negotiation on behalf of the¨ buyer groups. While adding a cost to the negotiation, the buyer¨ agent reduces the costs to individual buyers.

MC19.2 Negotiations in Electronic Commerce Arie Segev --- Univ. of CA, Haas Sch. of Bus., Berkeley, CA 94720-1900,

As many business processes are moved to a web-based environment,¨ many questions arise concerning the processes themselves and the¨ level of automation. Here, the business-to-business procurement¨ processes will be emphasized. In those cases, current attempts to¨ move to electronic catalogs deal with the need for negotiation¨ support. An architecture for such an environment will be presented¨ and related information needs identified.

MC19.3 Brokering in Electronic Markets for Software Services: An Analysis Hemant K. Bhargava, Ramayya Krishnan --- Naval Postgrad. Sch., Code SM-BH, 555 Dyer Rd., Monterey, CA 93943 , (bhargava@nps.navy.mil)

The design of brokers is a key issue in electronic markets for¨ software services. Based on our experience with designing brokers on¨ the Decision Net project, we will discuss alternative designs. The¨ principal difference in these designs relates to the range and the¨ type of services offered by the brokers who serve as intermediaries¨ between service providers and consumers.

MD19.1 The Importance of Intermediation in Electronic Markets Charles Steinfield --- MI State Univ., Dept. of Telecomm., E Lansing, MI 48824-1212,

Contrary to expectations of electronic commerce enthusiasts,¨ electronic markets will generally require as much intermediation¨ than traditional markets. Anecdotal evidence for this abounds in the¨ form of the emergence of a range of new intermediaries. A¨ theoretical framework and propositions regarding the role of¨ intermediaries in electronic markets are discussed.

MD19.2 Intermediaries in Cloud-Computing: A New Computing Paradigm Ramnath Chellappa --- Univ. of TX, Ctr. for Res. on Elect. Comm., MSIS Dept., Grad. Sch. of Bus., Austin, TX 78712 , (ram@cism.bus.utexas.edu)

Computing has evolved from a main-frame-based structure to a¨ network-based architecture. While many terms have appeared to¨ describe these new forms, the advent of electronic commerce has led¨ to the emergence of 'cloud computing.' This work aims at analyzing¨ the role of agents and intermediaries enabling this framework.

MD19.3 Comparison Agents on the Web Dave King --- Comshare, Inc., , , (dave@comshare.com)

Business-to-consumer commerce on the WWW offers buyers an¨ unprecedented opportunity to 'comparison' shop. To save buyers the¨ pain of searching across the Web, software agents provide the means¨ to automate the process. We review the technology's underlying¨ 'comparison' agents and examine commercial and research products¨ that provide this functionality.

MD19.4 Profit-Oriented Knowledge Brokering Sulin Ba --- Univ. of Southern CA, Marshall Sch. of Bus. Admin., Dept. of IOM, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1421, (sulin@rcf.usc.edu)

A new organizational construct, the knowledge broker, motivated by¨ organizational goals of profit maximization and enabled by the¨ technological development in electronic commerce, is introduced as a¨ profit-oriented intermediary to manage organizations' knowledge¨ resources. It will enable organizations to carry out value-added¨ 'knowledge-rich' transactions in the electronic marketplace.

ME19.1 Estimating Internet Users' Demand Characteristics Boris Jukic --- Univ. of TX, MSIS Dept., CBA 5.324, Austin, TX 78712 , (borisjukic@mail.utexas.edu)

We will show that classic estimation techniques are not best suited¨ to handle the consumer information available in the Internet¨ environment while proposing a method which fully exploits the¨ advantages of rich information stream to produce quick and accurate¨ estimates of demand characteristics which can be updated frequently.

ME19.2 Pricing Digital Products: Will Conventional Wisdom Prevail? Manoj Parameswaran, Andrew B. Whinston --- , , ,

The emergence of electronic commerce has introduced a vast array of¨ digital products with unique characteristics which impact the¨ possible pricing strategies. Arguments are presented for the¨ subscription vs. micropayment debate, and implications of quality on¨ consumers' value distributions and on bundled and unbundled¨ strategies are explored.

ME19.3 Decision Support Issues in Electronic Commerce Jan Stallaert --- Univ. of TX, CBA 5.202, Austin, TX 78712 , (stallaert@mail.utexas.edu)

The Internet with its electronic commerce applications provides an¨ abundance of readily accessible, real-time information. This¨ presentation gives some guidelines on how this can be exploited and¨ how this changes the design of DSS in Internet/Intranet/Extranet¨ environments.

ME19.4 An Adoption of Innovation Model for Focused Broadcasting James K. Ho --- Univ. of IL, MC 294, 601 S Morgan, Chicago, IL 60607 , (jimho@uic.edu)

Treating eletronic want ads and classified ads as complementary¨ products in an emerging medium, a model of adoption of innovation is¨ developed. Using the concept of markets with complementary¨ externalities, potential growth in demand for such products under¨ various marketing strategies are demonstrated.

TA19.1 Web Application Design & the Need for Methods Sue Conger --- SMU, Cox Sch. of Bus., Dallas, TX 75275 , (sconger@aol.com)

Strategic WWW applications should have several critical¨ characteristics that are systematically designed into the¨ application: effectiveness, affectiveness and navigational¨ efficiency. Each of these characteristics are defined with examples¨ of good and poor websites used to exemplify their importance.

TA19.2 Organizational Communication: Anywhere & Anytime Ken Wilkinson --- Greyhound Corp., Dallas, TX ,

The Internet represents a telecommunications infrastructure that is¨ only partially tapped if its main use is for WWW applications.¨ Greyhound undertook a study to develop the ability to do its¨ operations (such as ticket sales) anywhere and anytime by using the¨ Internet for its internal communications.

TA19.3 World Wide Web Technologies: Tradeoffs & Future Carlos Mendez --- Ambient Software, Dallas, TX ,

Website designs that use contemporary technologies are key to¨ developing an organizational image of innovativeness. Yet, the vast¨ majority of web users use Intel 386 level technology that is¨ incapable of viewing the technology. Technologies such as Active-X,¨ VBScript, CGI/Perl and Java and tradeoffs for their use are¨ described.

TB19.1 The Consumer Psychology in Internet Shopping Eric Law --- HKUST, Dept. of Info. & Systems Mgmt., Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, , Hong Kong

While the WWW is a relatively recent phenomenon in the last 18¨ months, the private sector has realized that the Web is not just an¨ easy way to browse the Internet but is a new mass communication¨ medium and a business framework. The industry has estimated that¨ electronic commerce, including consumer to business transaction¨ services and marketing, will be a multibillion business at the turn¨ of the century...

TB19.2 A Process & Factor Model of Consumer Perspectives of Electronic Shopping Olivia R. Liu Sheng, Eric Law, Lung Hui, Terrisa Fuk, Kevin Kwan --- Hong Kong Univ. of Sci. & Tech., Dept. of IS Mgmt., Kowloon, , Hong Kong (olivia@usthk.ust.hk)

The speed and the magnitude of the electronic commerce evolution¨ depend, to a large extent, on consumers' perception of the tradeoff¨ between electronic commerce and traditional commerce. We will¨ identify the factors affecting consumer psychology in an electronic¨ shopping process and discuss the empirical insights obtained from an¨ exploratory study.

TB19.3 Electronic Shopping & User Interface Design: Some Empirical Evidence Kishore Sengupta, Kar Yan Tam --- Naval Postgrad. Sch., Code SM/SE, Monterey, CA 93943 ,

User interface design of online shopping systems is a key issue¨ facing content providers of narrowband services such as Internet and¨ broadband service providers such as VOD and interactive TV. We ¨ report initial findings on a set of GUI design attributes on¨ user behavior in the context of online shopping. Implications to¨ system design and management of online services are also discussed.