Multiagent-Based Partner Selection of Dynamic Alliances in Inter-Organizational Collaborative E-Commerce*

Collaborative e-commerce have been considered as an effective waterway for underpinning advanced inter-organizational relationships. Dynamic alliance is one of novel organization structures that bring together individual entities located in an open and distributed environment temporarily for a specific goal, and combine their core competencies to improve the agility and flexibility of alliances in the global market. Agent technology provides a suitable enabler for achieving aims of dynamic alliances. Partner selection is a critical step in the success of a dynamic alliance. In this paper, a multiagent-based model to support the formation of dynamic alliances is proposed. The required attributes of the agents in the proposed model are explained. To address how to form a dynamic alliance rapidly and efficiently, the key issues in the process of partner selections are presented and discussed.