“E-Business Intelligent Agents: Controlling all Aspects of the Transaction from Inventory Location to Optimal Payment Selection”

Dr. Blaine Garfolo

Dr. Paul Beckman

ABSTRACT

Excess inventory totals many billions of dollars in U.S. businesses. Small businesses typically do not have the resources available that large commercial organizations have to dispose of their inventory. At the same time, consumers have numerous choices, even within their own set of credit cards, for selecting payment options that have varying values for interest rates, payoff terms, grace periods, and perks (such as frequent flier miles, annual cash back, etc.) An Internet-based intelligent agent process for both the small business and the consumer can be used to facilitate the transfer of excess inventory of a small business from the seller to the purchaser. When designed correctly, this type of e-business process can result in higher profits for the small business and better financial choices for the consumer.

An experiment building on previous work in this area was completed to test this intelligent agent process. The research project described herein discusses the results of an experiment that incorporated two sets of e-business intelligent agents that acted to 1) enable small businesses to obtain higher revenues for their excess inventory, and 2) enable consumers to access that excess inventory and also select a preferred method of payment, given varying parameters and values associated with those methods of payment.

REFERENCES

“1992 and 1997 Economic Census” (Updated August, 2002), U.S. Census, www.census.gov.

“Economic Statistics and Research”, 2003, Office of Advocacy, United States Small Business Administration.

Garfolo, B. “An Intelligent System to Help Small Business Dispose of Excess Inventory”, Conference unknown, Date unknown.

“Turning Surplus Into Sales”, BusinessWeek Online, November 20, 2000.