Investigate How E-Business Can Benefit from Methods Based on Software Agent Technology
INVESTIGATE HOW E-BUSINESS CAN BENEFIT FROM METHODS BASED ON SOFTWARE AGENT TECHNOLOGY
by
Charity Ndabandaba
201222672
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
BTech: Software Development
in the
FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
(Department of Systems Development)
at the
TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Study leader:
Mr. R Jacobs
Date of submission
07 October 2009
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
EVALUATION FORM
Miss, C N Ndabandaba 201222672
ASPECT TO BE EVALUATED WEIGHT MARK ALLOCATED
Technical care
• Title page
• Other technical aspects
• List of references 15
Problem statement 10
Research objectives 15
Literature review 40
Possible research hypotheses 10
Importance / benefits of the study 10
TOTAL 100
Comments:
Marked by: ________________________
Signature of study leader
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. BACKGROUND 2
2.1. BACKGROUND OF SOUTH AFRICA AND ICT 4
2.2. BACKGROUND OF E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS IN SOUTH AFRICA 5
3. PROBLEM STATEMENT 7
4. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 7
4.1. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 8
5. LITERATURE REVIEW 8
5.1. E-COMMERCE 8
5.1.1. TYPES OF E-COMMERCE 8
5.1.2. BENEFITS OF E–COMMERCE 9
5.2. E-BUSINESS 10
5.3. SOFTWARE AGENT TECHNOLOGY 12
5.3.1. FORMS OF SOFTWARE AGENTS 14
5.4. AGENT TECHNOLOGIES IN SUPPORT OF E-BUSINESS 15
5.4.1. AGENTS FOR BUSINESS-TOBUSINESS E-COMMERCE 16
5.4.2. MODELS FOR AGENTS AS MEDIATORS IN E-COMMERCE 18
5.4.3. BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF E-BUSINESS AGENTS 21
5.4.4. TYPE S OF AGENTS 22
6. IMPORTANCE / BENEFITS OF THE STUDY 22
7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23
7.1. INTRODUCTION 23
7.2. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH APPROACHES 23
7.3. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH DESIGNS OR STRATEGY AND TECHNIQUES 25
7.3.1. EXPLORATORY RESEARCH 26
7.3.2. DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH 27
7.3.3. CAUSAL RESEARCH 27
7.4. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PARADIGM OR RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY 28
8. DATA GATHERING / COLLECTION 29
9. DATA ANALYSIS 32
by
Charity Ndabandaba
201222672
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
BTech: Software Development
in the
FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
(Department of Systems Development)
at the
TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Study leader:
Mr. R Jacobs
Date of submission
07 October 2009
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
EVALUATION FORM
Miss, C N Ndabandaba 201222672
ASPECT TO BE EVALUATED WEIGHT MARK ALLOCATED
Technical care
• Title page
• Other technical aspects
• List of references 15
Problem statement 10
Research objectives 15
Literature review 40
Possible research hypotheses 10
Importance / benefits of the study 10
TOTAL 100
Comments:
Marked by: ________________________
Signature of study leader
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. BACKGROUND 2
2.1. BACKGROUND OF SOUTH AFRICA AND ICT 4
2.2. BACKGROUND OF E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS IN SOUTH AFRICA 5
3. PROBLEM STATEMENT 7
4. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 7
4.1. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 8
5. LITERATURE REVIEW 8
5.1. E-COMMERCE 8
5.1.1. TYPES OF E-COMMERCE 8
5.1.2. BENEFITS OF E–COMMERCE 9
5.2. E-BUSINESS 10
5.3. SOFTWARE AGENT TECHNOLOGY 12
5.3.1. FORMS OF SOFTWARE AGENTS 14
5.4. AGENT TECHNOLOGIES IN SUPPORT OF E-BUSINESS 15
5.4.1. AGENTS FOR BUSINESS-TOBUSINESS E-COMMERCE 16
5.4.2. MODELS FOR AGENTS AS MEDIATORS IN E-COMMERCE 18
5.4.3. BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF E-BUSINESS AGENTS 21
5.4.4. TYPE S OF AGENTS 22
6. IMPORTANCE / BENEFITS OF THE STUDY 22
7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23
7.1. INTRODUCTION 23
7.2. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH APPROACHES 23
7.3. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH DESIGNS OR STRATEGY AND TECHNIQUES 25
7.3.1. EXPLORATORY RESEARCH 26
7.3.2. DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH 27
7.3.3. CAUSAL RESEARCH 27
7.4. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PARADIGM OR RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY 28
8. DATA GATHERING / COLLECTION 29
9. DATA ANALYSIS 32
References: Leedy, P. D. & Ormrod, J. E. Practical Research: Planning and Design. New Jersey: Pearson. 2005. Jennings, N.R. & Wooldridge, M. Eds. Applications of intelligent agents. Agent Technology Foundations, Applications and Markets, Springer-Verlag, 1998. Papazoglou, M.P. Laufmann, S. & Sellis, T.K. An organizational framework for cooperating intelligent information systems. International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems 1. 1992. Maes, P. Guttman, R. H. & Moukas, A. G. Agents that Buy and Sell, Communication of the ACM, vol. 42, 1999. Helal, S. & Wang, M. Service centric brokering in dynamic e-business agent communities: Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2001. Seidel, J. Qualitative Data Analyisis. The Ethnograph v5 Manual, Appendix E. 1998. Cooper, D. R. & Schindler, P. S. Business Research Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2006. Wooldridge, M. 1999. Intelligent Agents, in Multiagent Systems: A Modern Approach to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, G. Weiss, Ed. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1999. Dignum, F. & Sierra, C. Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce. The European AgentLink Perspective, Springer-Verlag, 2001. Guttman, R.H., Moukas, A. G., & Maes, P. Agents as Mediators in Electronic Commerce. Electronic Markets, Vol. 8, No. 1. 1998. Turban, E. Lee, J. King, D. & Chung, H.M. Electronic Commerce: A managerial perspective, Prentice-Hall, Inc. NJ. 2000. Muller, J. P. Bauer, B. & Berger, M. Software Agents for Electronic Business: Opportunitis and Challenges. 2002. Papazoglou, M.P. Agent-oriented Technology in Support of E-Business. Communication of the ACM. Vol. 44. No. 4. 2001. Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. An E-Business Model ontology for Modeling E-Business. Bled, Slovenia. 2002