Business Model and Internet Broker Concept for Efficient Electronic Bidding and Procurement in the Tile Industry

This chapter outlines different generic e-broker models and describes the requirements and necessary concepts for establishing a broker service for tiles and related products in the supply chain of the tile industry. The objective of the service is to introduce innovation into the bidding and procurement processes between tile manufacturers, wholesalers and building contractors. The actors, relations and goods of the supply chain are presented, and the architecture chosen for the electronic marketplace and the support tools are described. The core functionality of the broker service, e.g. data exchange, repository access and negotiation, is outlined by means of UML use cases.