An Agent-Based Multi-issue Negotiation Model

Abstract

Most of the current agent systems focus on single issue, such as price, whereas multi-issue negotiation is very essential to electronic commerce. In the multi-issue model, MAUT (Multi-attribute Utility Theory) or its derived theory is mainly used as the evaluation method. However, the application of this theory may cause deviation. To resolve the problem, a two stage negotiation model is presented in this paper. In the first stage, the negotiation theory is used to negotiate over the most important issue or the issues combination. In the second stage we reverse auction the product each issue at one time according to the issue importance from the smallest to the most important using the adjusted auction theory.