Habin Lee

Exploration and Exploitation in the Presence of Network Externalities

This paper examines the conditions under which exploration of a new, incompatible technologyis conducive to firm growth in the presence of network externalities. In particular, this study is motivated by the divergent evolutions of the PC and the workstation markets in response to a new technology: reduced instruction set computing (RISC). In the PC market, Intel has developed new microprocessors by maintaining compatibility with the established architecture, whereas it was radically replaced by RISC in the workstation market. History indicates that unlike the PC market, the workstation market consisted of a large number of power users, who are less sensitive to compatibility than ordinary users. Our numerical analysis indicates that the exploration of a new, incompatible technology is more likely to increase the chance of firm growth when there are a substantial number of power users or when a new technology is introduced before an established technology takes off.

A Multi-Agent System to Support Location-Based Group Decision Making in Mobile Teams

This paper describes an agent-based approach for developing a location-based asynchronous group decision-support system for mobile teams. The approach maximises the use of reusable service components (GSCmas — generic service component for multi-agent systems) as the main interaction mechanism between agents to allow flexible support of a new group-decision process. The paper describes the architecture of a GSCmas and provides details of how the GSCmas is integrated within a decision support system. Finally a system (mPower) based on the proposed approach is introduced and applied to a location-based group decision problem.

MAS platforms as an enabler of enterprise mobilisation: the state of the art

One of the main application areas for multi-agent systems technology is enterprise mobilization, wherein the main business process actors are nomadic workers. An agents autonomy, sociality and intelligence are highly prized features when it comes to supporting those mobile workers who are geographically isolated from the main knowledge source (i.e. the corporate Intranet) and are frequently moving from one location to another. Based on experience gained from two field trials of applications (built using for multi-agent systems technology and running on lightweight handheld devices) that support mobile business processes for telecommunications service provisioning and maintenance, this paper proposes desirable metrics for any multi-agent systems platform intended for enterprise mobilisation use. These metrics are then used to compare a number of existing multi-agent systems platforms, and based on the results, this paper identifies some areas for improvement.

A component based multi-agent architecture to support mobile business processes

Information as to the location of mobile workers plays a central role in tracking and co-ordinating teams in mobile business processes. This paper describes a multi-agent architecture for location based workflow management and team co-ordination. The architecture is based on reusable components that facilitate multi-agent interactions to produce services for locating and co-ordinating members of mobile teams and can be used as a generic approach, which is customised to support various kinds of mobile business processes. The details on the components and architecture for multi-agent systems are given and details of a case study, where an application based on the architecture was applied to a real mobile business process, are included to show its usefulness.

TeamWorker: An Agent-Based Support System for Mobile Task Execution

An organization’s mobile workforce is a vital asset, as it is in the front line liaising with customers, and driving the sale of an organization’s products and/or services. Despite this, the IT support provided to mobile workers is often inferior to that available to office-based workers. Mobile workers operate in an unreliable environment, and as such require differing types of support. Within this paper we present a multi-agent based computer cooperative support system known as TeamWorker which can help overcome the difficulties faced by mobile workers. Within this system, each mobile worker is assigned a personal agent that can assist her/him during the working day through appropriate service provision (based on current work context), and through monitoring work progress to anticipate and undertake required actions on the user’s behalf. A detailed presentation of the TeamWorker system is given, including the benefits provided for a real life mobile business process.