Electronic Commerce in Decision Technologies: A Business Cycle Analysis
Hemant K. Bhargava, Ramayya Krishnan, and Rudolf Müller
Volume 1, Number 4, Summer 1997, pp. 109 – 128.
Abstract: The phenomenal growth of global information networks such as the World Wide Web has generated considerable interest in electronic commerce in information goods and services. Most work in this area has focused on commerce in static information services such as digital libraries and electronic newstands. This paper is concerned with electronic commerce in interactive information services, in particular, software and information technologies that support decision making. We identify distinctive features of decision technologies that influence the functionality required to support the business cycle of consumers and providers in an electronic commerce setting. We then discuss alternative modalities of providing such functionality and discuss the implications of this choice for barriers to entry in the marketplace. We conclude with a discussion of legal and social issues that need to be addressed in electronic markets for decision technologies.
Key Words and Phrases: decision support markets, decision technologies, electronic markets, knowledge markets.