Architecture for Multi-enterprise E-business System Design and Management Program Ja N 2 0 Eno Libraries Architecture for Multi-enterprise E-business Acknowledgments

Integration and customization are increasingly becoming the dominant trends in the future of electronic commerce (e-commerce). Advances in networking, communications, and distributed computing technologies make it possible to better leverage internal and external competencies. E-business extends the consumer-centric e-commerce realm by including the business-to-business aspect of commerce. This has a much wider impact on traditional ways of doing business as it is fundamentally changing the way companies operate. However, current e-business systems typically do not go beyond business-tobusiness buy and sell relationships for products and services. The true potential of the Internet for business-to-business commerce offers opportunities to go beyond these buysell relationships. This research analyzes existing e-business models and develops the concept of a multienterprise e-business model. Multi-enterprise e-business, an e-broker-based form of virtual enterprises, consists of existing independent businesses that form dynamic on-line (Internet/WWW based) alliances. This enables them to share competencies, information, costs, skills, and resources in order to efficiently meet customer requirements. This research also analyzes the motivation, business models, and technical as well as operational system requirements associated with multi-enterprise e-business. A review of related technologies and models is presented. Based on this analysis, an architecture for a multi-enterprise e-business system is developed. It presents a functional model, system decomposition, and operational analysis of the system. Two case studies are also presented. One analyzes the state-of-the-art in terms of ebusiness implementation, and shows how it differs from the multi-enterprise e-business model. The other shows how a successful on-line business model can be further extended using the concepts developed as part of this research effort. Thesis Supervisor: Professor Stuart E. Madnick Title: John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technology & Leaders for Manufacturing Professor of Management Science MIT Sloan School of Management