Solution concepts

This chapter describes the solution concepts. The problems facing BC and their clients are complex and involve many aspects (cultural, social, legal, contractual, financial) that are out of scope for a single PhD research project. What can be done however is to try to develop a solution concept with a scope just large enough to involve all the stakeholders, and flexible enough to co-operate with most solutions for the other aspects.

The introduction places this chapter in context and revisits the research questions that must be answered here. The next section deals with BC Semantics, followed by web services: a new generation of application software that is better equipped to support the communication and co-operation needs of BC. Specifications--as an important illustration of the concept--are detailed next. The next section describes the business model proposed as part of the solution concept, as it is important that this research finds its way into practice. The ways in which the concept allows innovation in BC is next, followed by the conclusions.