Negotiation models in manufacturing e-marketplaces

This chapter describes the negotiation model adopted by the Customer and Supplier Negotiation Agents in the agent based architecture described in Chapter 2. The chapter is structured as it follows: in the first section the use of automated negotiation in modern market scenario is motivated; in the second section, starting form the contributions presented in the scientific literature, automated negotiation will be analysed and a taxonomy will be proposed. The third section is dedicated to the e-market context discussed in this book and in particular the impact of negotiation in manufacturing e-marketplaces will be stressed: its impact is strictly related to the electronic nature of e-marketplaces and to the supply chain coordination aspects of a make-to-order environment. Section four discusses the problem related to the negotiation performance evaluation. Finally, in section five we will introduce the developed negotiation model: after an overview of the agents involved in the process, the negotiation analytical model is presented