Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents

CIA 1998: Cooperative Information Agents II Learning, Mobility and Electronic Commerce for Information Discovery on the Internet pp 135–147Cite as

Cooperative vs. Competitive multi-agent negotiations in retail electronic commerce

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 1435))

Abstract

A key lesson learned from economic and game theory research is that negotiation protocols have substantial, rippling effects on the overall nature of the system, online auctions are increasingly popular negotiation protocols for software agents (and humans) to compete on the prices of goods and services. This paper takes a critical look at these competitive protocols in retail markets from economic, game theoretic, and business perspectives. Our analysis suggests that online auction protocols are, in fact, less efficient and more hostile than would be expected (or desired) in retail markets. Furthermore, we identify the importance of customer satisfaction and propose more cooperative multi- agent decision analysis tools (e.g., Multi-Attribute Utility Theory) and negotiation protocols (e.g., Distributed Constraint Satisfaction) as promising techniques to support it.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. R.H.Frank. Microeconomics and Behavior, 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Forrester Research Report. “Affordable Intimacy Strengthens online Stores.” September, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  3. R. Guttman, A. Moukas, and P. Macs. “Agent-mcdiatcd Electronic Commerce: A Survey.” To appear, Knowledge Engineering Review, June 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  4. J. Rosenschein and G. Zlotkin. Rules of Encounter: Designing Conventions for Automated Negotiation among Computers. MIT Press, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  5. J. Cheng and M. Wellman. “The WALRAS algorithm: A Convergent Distributed Implementation of General Equilibrium Outcomes.” To appear, Computational Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  6. T. Sandholm and V. Lesser. “Equilibrium Analysis of the Possibilities of Unenforced Exchange in Multiagent Systems.” 14th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI'95). Montreal, Canada, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  7. A. Chavez, D. Dreilinger, R. Guttman, and P. Maes. “A Real-Life Experiment in Creating an Agent Marketplace.” Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Practical Application of Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agent Technology (PAAM'97). London, UK, April 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kasbah URL: <http://kasbah.media.mil.edu/>

    Google Scholar 

  9. C. Sierra, P. Faratin, and N. Jennings. “A Service-Oriented Negotiation Model Between Autonomous Agents.” Proceedings of the Eighth European Workshop on Modeling Autonomous Agents in a Multi-Agent World (MAAMAW'97). Ronneby, Sweden, May 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  10. P. Wurman, M. Wellman, and W. Walsh. “The Michigan Internet AuctionBot: A Configurable Auction Server for Human and Software Agents.” In the Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Autonomous Agents. May, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  11. AuctionBot URL: <http://auction.eecs.umich.edu/>

    Google Scholar 

  12. OnSale URL: <http://www.onsale.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  13. eBay's AuctionWeb URL: <http://www.ebay.com/aw>

    Google Scholar 

  14. Yahoo! online Auction URL: <http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Auctions/online_Auctions/>

    Google Scholar 

  15. Forrester Research Report, Business Trade and Technology Strategies: Sizing Intercompany Commerce, vol. 1, no. 1. July 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  16. FastParts URL: <http://www.fastparts.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  17. FairMarket URL: <http://www.fairmarket.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  18. First Auction URL: <http://www.firstauction.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  19. netMarket URL: <http://www.netmarket.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  20. Z Auction URL: <http://www.zauction.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  21. P. Milgrom. “Auctions and Bidding: A Primer.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, pp. 3–22. Summer 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  22. C. Beam, A. Segev, and J. G. Shanthikumar. “Electronic Negotiation through Internet-based Auctions.” CITM Working Paper 96-WP-1019, December 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  23. G. Morgenson. “The Pall of the Mall.” Forbes, May 24, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  24. T. Sandholm and V. Lesser. “Coalition Formation among Bounded Rational Agents.” 14th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (l.ICAI'95), Montreal, Canada, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  25. E. Schwartz. Webonomics: Nine Essential Principles for Growing Your Business on the World Wide Web. Broadway Books, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  26. R. Lewicki, D. Saunders, and J. Minton. Essentials of Negotiation. Irwin, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  27. R. Keeney and H. Raiffa. Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Tradeoffs. John Wiley & Sons, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  28. K. Sycara. “The PERSUADER.” In The Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence. D. Shapiro (ed.), John Wiley and Sons, January, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Logical Decisions URL: <http://www.logicaldecisions.com/>

    Google Scholar 

  30. E. Tsang. Foundations of Constraint Satisfaction. Academic Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Dell “Build Your Own System” URL: <http://www.dell.com/store/index.htm>

    Google Scholar 

  32. Trilogy's Selling Chainℳ URL: <http://www.lrilogy.com/prodserv/products/main.html>

    Google Scholar 

  33. M. Yokoo and E. Durfee. “Distributed Constraint Satisfaction for Formalizing Distributed Problem Solving.” Proceedings of the 12th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIT Media Laboratory, 20 Ames Slrcel, E15-301, 02139, Cambridge, MA

    Robert H. Guttman & Pattie Maes

Authors
  1. Robert H. Guttman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pattie Maes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Matthias Klusch Gerhard Weiß

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Guttman, R.H., Maes, P. (1998). Cooperative vs. Competitive multi-agent negotiations in retail electronic commerce. In: Klusch, M., Weiß, G. (eds) Cooperative Information Agents II Learning, Mobility and Electronic Commerce for Information Discovery on the Internet. CIA 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1435. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053680

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053680

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64676-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69109-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation