Software Agent Support of the Virtual Enterprise Life-cycle: Evaluation and Concept Development

Today, enterprises need more flexibility than ever before, but classic firms oftenfail this requirement. Therefore, a more flexible kind of enterprise evolved: TheVirtual Enterprise. One reason why Virtual Enterprises are that flexible is theirextensive use of IT. Yet, given the temporary character of Virtual Enterprises, existingsoftware concepts are often not applicable. Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) mayhelp to solve this problem. However, a concept that allows cooperating agents to support the management of the complete life-cycle of a Virtual Enterprise, is still amiss. This book attendsto that gap. It identifies the management tasks of the Virtual Enterprise life-cycle,determines those that may be performed by software agents, identifies preconditionsfor their successful completion, and proposes an abstract architecture. Thearchitecture defines the structure of a MAS for Virtual Enterprise life-cycle support,determines communication standards, interaction protocols and messages, and identifiesontologies, that have still to be elaborated.