A fuzzy e-negotiation support system for inter-firm collaborative product development

Abstract

Significant advances in manufacturing technology and the rapid intensification of the Internet and electronic commerce diffusion have given rise to competitive differentiation and rapid adaptability to competitive change. Newproduct development is a complex and collaborative process that requires negotiation and joint decision-making. We propose a fuzzy electronic negotiation (e-negotiation) support system based on cooperative multi-criteria game theory. The proposed system comprises three major processes: initialisation, e-negotiation and joint agreement. The Internet is used to facilitate the e-negotiation process and to minimise the response time in the decision-making process. The fuzzy sets are used to overcome issues related to the imprecise or vague judgments and incomplete information in the negotiation process. The proposed system enables the manufacturing parties involved in the negotiation process to determine the optimal coalition form for new product development and choose a common strategy to improve the payoffs of the members of the coalition group. Finally, a case study is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework and exhibit the efficacy of the procedures and algorithms in the mobile telecommunications industry.

Keywords:

• collaborative product development
• multi-criteria decision-making
• cooperative multi-criteria game theory
• e-negotiation support system
• fuzzy sets

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and Dr. Aydin Nassehi, the Managing Editor of the International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. The name of the company is changed to protect its anonymity.

2. The name of the product is changed to protect its anonymity.