Semantic Knowledge Transparency in E-Business Processes

Abstract

This chapter introduces a new approach named semantic knowledge transparency, which is defined as the dynamic on-demand and seamless flow of relevant and un-ambiguous, machine-interpretable knowledge resources within organizations and across inter-organizational systems of business partners engaged in collaborative processes. Semantic knowledge transparency is based on extant research in e-business, knowledge management (KM), and the Semantic Web. In addition, theoretical conceptualizations are formalized using description logics (DL) and ontological analysis. As a result, the ontology will support a common vocabulary for transparent knowledge exchange among inter-organizational systems of business partners of a value chain, so that semantic interoperability can be achieved. An example is furnished to illustrate how semantic knowledge transparency in the e-marketplace provides critical input to the supplier discovery and selection decision problem while reducing the transaction and search costs for the buyer organization.