This book presents 12 revised full papers on Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce: seven papers were initially presented at the AMEC 2000 Workshop and the five others were solicited by the volume editors in order to achieve competent coverage of all relevant topics.The book is divided in topical sections on electronic negotiation models for agents, formal issues for agents operating on electronic market places, virtual trading institutions and platforms, and trading strategies for interrelated transactions.

This book documents the efforts undertaken by the EG AgentLink Special Interest Group on Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce, SIG AMEC.First and foremost, the book presents a roadmap of research and current technological development in the area of agent mediated electronic commerce. A particularly interesting part of this roadmap is the joint perspective on future developments.The book also contains a number of papers that fill in parts of this roadmap in a European context. Some of the papers present significant current R&D results while other papers indicate some clear directions for future research. The book is structured in topical sections on negotiation, markets, user preferences, and security.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Electronic Commerce, WELCOM 2001, held in Heidelberg, Germany in November 2001.The 17 revised full papers presented together with two invited contributions were carefully reviewed and selected from 34 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on trade and markets, security and trust, auctions, profiling, and business interaction.

This volume includes the papers accepted for the First International Conference on Electronic Commerce and Web Technologies, which was held in Greenwich, UK, on September 4-6, 2000. The conference is the first of a series of planned conferences on these topics with the goal to bring together researchers from academia, practitioners and commercial developers from industry, and users to assess current methodologies and explore new ideas in e-commerce and web technology. The conference attracted 120 papers from all over the world and each paper was reviewed by at least three program committee members for its merit. The program committee finally selected 42 papers for presentation and inclusion in these conference proceedings. The conference program consisted of 14 technical sessions and two invited talks spread over three days. The regular sessions covered topics such as web application design, intellectual property rights, security and fairness, distributed organizations, web usage analysis, modelling of web applications, electronic commerce success factors, electronic markets, XML, web mining, electronic negotiation, integrity and performance, facilitating electronic commerce, and mobile electronic commerce. There were two invited addresses at the conference. The first was by Anthony Finkelstein, University College London, UK on "A Foolish Consistency: Technical Challenges in Consistency Management." This was a common address to the DEXA, the DaWaK and the EC-Web attendees. The second talk was by Paul Timmers, European Commission, Information Technologies Directorate on "The Role of Technology for the e-Economy."

West African societies were transformed by the slave trade, even in regions where few slaves were exported. While many books have been written on the import and export trade and on warrior predation, Dr Searing's concern is with the effects of the Atlantic slave trade on the societies of the Senegal river valley in the eighteenth century. He shows that the growth of the Atlantic trade stimulated the development of slavery within West Africa. Slaves worked as seamen in the river and coasting trades, produced surplus grain to feed slaves in transit, and sometimes came to hold pivotal positions in the political structure of the coastal kingdoms of Senegambia. This local slave system had far-reaching consequences, leading to religious protest and slave rebellions. The changes in agricultural production fostered an ecological crisis.

Among the many changes brought by the Internet is the emergence of electronic commerce over the Web. E-commerce activities, such as the online exchange of information, services, and products, are opening up completely new opportunities for business, at new levels of productivity and profitability. In parallel with the emergence of e-commerce, intelligent software agents as entities capable of independent action in open, unpredictable environments have matured into a promising new technology. Quite naturally, e-commerce agents hold great promise for exploiting the Internet's full potential as an electronic marketplace. The 20 coherently written chapters in this book by leading researchers and professionals present the state of the art in agent-mediated e-commerce. Researchers, professionals, and advanced students interested in e-commerce or agent technology will find this book an indispensable source of information and reference.

Studies of the British Industrial Revolution and of the Victorian period of economic and social development have until very recently concentrated on British industries and industrial regions, while commerce and finance, and particularly that of London, have been substantially neglected. This has distorted our view of the process of change because financial services and much trade continued to be centred on the metropolis, and the south-east region never lost its position at the top of the national league of wealth. This is a pioneer survey of the mercantile sector of the economy from the end of the eighteenth century to World War I. It complements Dr. Chapman's The Rise of Merchant Banking (1984), concentrating on the various ways in which British merchants responded to the unprecedented opportunities of the Industrial Revolution and the growth of the British Empire. The main conclusion is that industrial entrepreneurs contributed only briefly to merchant ventures, and that with limited success. Rather did the established merchant community evolve its own new forms of enterprise to meet the changing opportunities: the 'new frontier' merchant networks of the Atlantic economy, the international houses in continental trade, the agency houses in the Far East, and the home trade houses dominating the domestic market. These resilient organisations enabled the British merchant enterprise to survive longer and in greater strength than in other Western economies.

Electronic Commerce, as a gamut of activities involving electronic transactions performed over a network via software that may be more or less autonomous, is an emerging reality. Strategic studies have shown that electronic commerce is a major growth industry.
The book is devoted to the challenges and opportunities that electronic commerce opens for agent technology. For some time, electronic commerce has attracted the avid attention of agent-builders and agent technology researchers, and these have decisively contributed to advancing the state of the art in the field. The second-generation software agents now entering the scene hold great promise for the further advancement of electronic commerce. This book originates from a workshop on Agent-Mediated Electronic Trading held at Agents'98 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 1998. The eleven carefully reviewed and revised papers present a unique survey of software agents in the context of electronic commerce.

The new digital economy has pronounced implications for corporate strategy, marketing, operations, information systems, customer service, global supply-chain management, and product distribution. This handbook examines most aspects of electronic commerce, including electronic storefronts, online business, consumer interface, business-to-business networking, digital payment, legal issues, information product development, and electronic business models. An indispensable reference for professionals in e-commerce and Internet business.

LIBERAL TRADE AND JAPAN THE INCOMPATIBILITY ISSUE IN ELECTRONICS What would be the cause of those many trade conflicts between Japan and the West? Do just lack of competitiveness and protectionism or inaccessibility of the Japanese market trigger repetitive trade conflicts or some mix? It may also be that economic systems of Japan and the Western industrial nations are incompatible. Both, the question of competitiveness and of frictions between both systems are addressed in this book. Incongruity of the economy of Japan and Western liberal system would have serious consequences for the continuity of the world trade system. H a contradiction between the two systems is supposed to exist, such a hypothesis would require analysis of the basics of the existing trade system and of the Japanese economy and what its effects on world trade are. H it would be possible to explain salient features of Japanese competitiveness from these frictions perhaps some recommendations could be made for improvement of business and governmental trade policies and of the international trade system. The present world trade system is partly framed in rules dating from the end of the 1940s and reflecting economic experience as well as prevailing - both theoretical and ideological - economic thought in the period prior to their design. Part A investigates the liberal basis of the international economic system and general position of Japan in that system.

"Recht fur Manager" versteht sich als Leitfaden zu den rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen einer marktorientierten Unternehmensfuhrung. Das Buch vermittelt dem Praktiker die notwendige Kenntnis der einschlagigen Rechtsnormen, gibt zugleich einen Einblick in die juristische Denkweise und ermoeglicht so kompetente Loesungen fur Problemstellungen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Management und Recht. Juristen bietet das Buch einen Einblick in die wichtigsten "juristisch gepragten" Entscheidungstatbestande einer marktorientierten Unternehmensfuhrung. Eine ubersichtliche Struktur, pragnante Darstellung und klare Sprache machen die Lekture leicht und angenehm.

Obwohl die Bedeutung des Dienstleistungssektors auch bei uns steigt, hat er bisher nicht die Bedeutung wie in anderen Landern gewonnen und der Sektor gehort auch nicht zu den "Exportweltmeistern." Dieses Buch zeigt, dass Dienstleister, die als Netzwerk organisiert sind, ihre Wettbewerbsposition verbessern konnen, da sie Kundennahe mit effizientem Systemhintergrund verbinden. Nach einem konzeptionellen Uberblick werden empirische Ergebnisse einer internationalen Benchmarkingstudie zu den Erfolgsfaktoren von Dienstleistungsnetzwerken vorgestellt. Dabei werden funf Erfolgsfaktoren identifiziert und deren Umsetzung in Form von "Best Practice Case Studies" aufgearbeitet. Diese Fallstudien stellen die international erfolgreichsten Benchmarks vor. Die Vorstellung von Franchising und Cooperations-Netzwerken und Uberlegungen zum "idealen Dienstleistungswerk" bilden den Schluss des Buches."

UEbersichtlich und praxisnah beschreibt das Buch zukunftsweisende Perspektiven fur den effizienten Einsatz von Informationssystemen fur das Handelsmanagement und fur das Distributionsmanagement der Industrie. Diese Informationssysteme sind umfangreicher als klassische Warenwirtschaftssysteme: Sie decken zusatzlich betriebswirtschaftlich-administrative Aufgaben, das Controlling sowie die Unternehmensplanung funktionell ab. Neben den theoretischen Grundlagen beschreiben die Autoren an praktischen Beispielen die neuen Trends wie Efficient Consumer Response, Category und Supply Chain Management oder Electric Commerce. Dadurch wird das Buch unentbehrlich fur Theorie und Praxis.

Global Sourcing im Handel ist ein h chst aktuelles und intensiv diskutiertes Thema. Die Modebranche hat als eine der ersten erkannt, dass man in diesem Bereich Prozesse noch deutlich optimieren und somit Wettbewerbsvorteile realisieren kann. Praktiker erfahren in diesem Buch aktuellste Trends in der Beschaffung der Bekleidungsbranche, finden differenzierte L sungsans tze f r ihr Unternehmen und werden entlang eines vielfach in der Praxis erprobten Verbesserungsprogramms durch den Implementierungsprozess gef hrt.

Dieses Grundlagenwerk fuhrt in die "Praxis" der Planung und Gestaltung aller Aufgabenbereiche des technischen Vertriebs ein und vermittelt lerngerecht die Lehrinhalte fur die "Ausbildung" zum Vertriebsingenieur. Die Autoren sind massgeblich an der Gestaltung dieses Lehrgangs beteiligt, der das Berufsbild in Zukunft pragt. Damit ist kompetente Information aus erster Hand gewahrleistet. Concise text: Ingenieure und Manager in Vertrieb und Verkauf erhalten konkrete Anleitungen fur die Planung und Gestaltung aller Aufgabenbereiche des technischen Vertriebs. Die Modelle und Instrumente sind direkt in die Praxis umsetzbar."

Das Internet als supranationaler Raum offentlichen Rechts ist keineswegs rechtsfrei, es stellt vielmehr das Recht vor Fragen bisher nicht gekannter Komplexitat.
Das Buch behandelt die wichtigsten Bereiche kommerzieller Internet-Nutzung unter dem Gesichtspunkt des deutschen Rechts und beschreibt die haufigsten rechtlichen Fallstricke. Nach einer Einfuhrung in die Grundlagen des Cyberspace geht es schwerpunktmassig um Domain-Namensrecht, Inhalt und Gestaltung von Webseiten, Vertrage per E-Mail und HTML-Formular, Einbeziehung der Allgemeinen Geschaftsbedingungen (AGB), Werbung und Verkauf im World Wide Web sowie Datenerhebung und Marktforschung. Dabei werden insbesondere die unterschiedlichen Positionen der aktuell kontroversen Diskussion herausgearbeitet und rechtlich bewertet. Hervorzuheben ist, dass sich das Buch nicht an der juristischen Klassifikation orientiert, sondern an den praktischen Komponenten des Einsatzes von Internet-Technologien zur Marktkommunikation."

Die Wettbewerbssituation etablierter Technologieunternehmen verandert sich mit neuen Kunden und Wettbewerben aus den Schwellen- und Entwicklungslandern rasant. Anders als gewohnt, verlangen die neuen Kaufer uber technisch perfekte Produkte hinaus preiswerte Alternativen. Der Autor diskutiert neue Strategien, mit denen sich Technologieunternehmen erfolgreich behaupten konnen und liefert Vorschlage fur die Umsetzung bei der Produkt- und Preisgestaltung, der Mitarbeiter- und Organisationsentwicklung sowie beim Marken- und Vertriebsmanagement.