In the Search of Better Deals Using Trust

Abstract. In current days, a great effort, on several scientific research areas, is being devoted to the automation of the procurement processes in the framework of business-to-business relations. However, several constraints limit the extension of the procurement process to truly open and global marketplaces. One such constraint is the lack of valid trust mechanisms that allow business agents to select partners outside the sphere of known relationships, in the hope of better deals. Following our firm belief that trust systems used in such hard environments shall be situation-aware and flexible, we present our approach for such a system. Also, we set up a multi-agent environment based on client-supplier transactions in order to evaluate two fundamental questions. First, whether the break of parochial relations allows for better deals without jeopardizing the overall utility of client agents by engaging on transactions with strangers. And second, how representative trust systems – including our own approach – support the exploration of new partners in a relative safe way.1