Research in negotiation support for electronic commerce has focused on new negotiation protocols such as auctions. In this paper, we present a novel approach to the effective support of electronic negotiations. Existing negotiation processes in traditional commerce are analyzed to find out about negotiation patterns and to anticipate potential problems. Electronic negotiations between business partners involve the exchanges of documents and messages.
Documents are contracts, which evolve during the negotiations.
The evolution is coordinated through the exchange of structured messages such as offers, requests, quotations, counteroffers, and acceptances. In contrast to the current practice of separate management of messages and documents, we propose a powerful framework for effective negotiation support in electronic commerce by combining communication and document management. Inc. All rights reserved.