شبیه سازی سیستم تجارت الکترونیکی برای ساخت و تخریب تبادل ضایعات

This article introduces a quantitative approach to e-commerce system evaluation based on the theory of process simulation. The general concept of e-commerce system simulation is presented based on the considerations of some limitations in e-commerce system development such as the huge amount of initial investments of time and money, and the long period from business planning to system development, then to system test and operation, and finally to exact return; in other words, currently used system analysis and development method cannot tell investors about some keen attentions such as how good their e-commerce system could be, how many investment repayments they could have, and which area they should improve regarding the initial business plan. In order to exam the value and its potential effects of an e-commerce business plan, it is necessary to use a quantitative evaluation approach and the authors of this article believe that process simulation is an appropriate option. The overall objective of this article is to apply the theory of process simulation to e-commerce system evaluation, and the authors will achieve this though an experimental study on a business plan for online construction and demolition waste exchange. The methodologies adopted in this article include literature review, system analysis and development, simulation modelling and analysis, and case study. The results from this article include the concept of e-commerce system simulation, a comprehensive review of simulation methods adopted in e-commerce system evaluation, and a real case study of applying simulation to e-commerce system evaluation. Furthermore, the authors hope that the adoption and implementation of the process simulation approach can effectively support business decision-making, and improve the efficiency of e-commerce systems.

As a modern way to conduct business in the global economic environment, e-commerce is becoming an essential component integrated with traditional business processes in enterprises. In order to reduce risks and increase profits in e-commerce investments and provide the best services to their customers, enterprises have to find appropriate approaches to analysis their e-commerce strategies at business planning stage. Strategic management tools are designed for enterprises to evaluate their business strategies and can be used to evaluate e-commerce business plan. For example, the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is regarded as a popular way to conduct e-commerce business plan evaluation with business environmental scanning based on internal environmental factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external environmental factors (opportunities and threats) [45]. In order to facilitate the application of the strategic management tools, different forms of applications are adopted such as checklist [36], rating system [46] and expert system [37], etc. Among these strategic management tools, computer driven business simulation tools enable participants to run with virtual business processes, experiment with different strategies, and compete with other companies or plans in a virtual business environment. As an example, the Marketplace [24] and [25] is a business simulator for integrative business courses, which provides decision content includes marketing, product development, sales force management, financial analysis, accounting, manufacturing and quality management. Regarding the application of computer simulation in e-commerce, the Marketplace strategic e-commerce simulation is designed specifically for the e-commerce courses, and it illustrates the business concepts of the e-commerce environment [25]. For an e-commerce system simulation, Griss and Letsinger [22] conducted their research into flexible, agent-based e-commerce systems with an experimental multi-player shopping game, in which agents represent buyers, sellers, brokers and services of various kinds, for demonstration and educational value, for experimenting with alternative individual and group economic strategies, and for evaluating the effectiveness of agent-based systems for e-commerce. Both academic and professional practice have proven that using computer driven simulation is an effective, efficient and economical way for e-commerce business plan evaluation. However, it is hard to conduct simulation based on the detail flowchart of business processes within current e-commerce simulations environment as mentioned above. This actually makes a limit for applying e-commerce simulation. In fact, computer simulation has been applied to tackle a range of business problems leading to improvements in efficiency, reduced costs and increased profitability since the 1950s [40]. During this period simulation software tools are on the increase in various application areas [21] and process oriented simulation has been becoming popular in business management [43]. The authors believe that a process oriented simulation for e-commerce system evaluation is more directly perceived through the human sense, and their interest is to conduct a quantitative approach to e-commerce system evaluation based on the theory of process simulation. The e-commerce system simulation is an integrative procedure to run a business process oriented simulation programme based on both internal and external business environmental factors to demonstrate the actual results of implementing an e-commerce business model by using computer driven software toolkits. The e-commerce system simulation is an effective, efficient and economical approach, and can be used to experiment e-commerce business models and to evaluate different e-commerce business plans, in which quantitative analysis is required by decision makers. The adoption of e-commerce system simulation can overcome some limitations in e-commerce system development such as the huge amount of initial investments of time and money, and the long period from business planning to system development, then to system test and operation, and finally to exact return; in other words, the proposed process oriented e-commerce system simulation can help currently used system analysis and development method to tell investors in a very detailed way about some keen attentions such as how good their e-commerce system could be, how many investment repayments they could have, and which area they should improve from initial business plans. The definition of the proposed process oriented e-commerce system simulation normalizes its procedure to apply a process simulation to experiment an e-commerce model. In this regard, this article will focus on the adaptation of an e-commerce model into a process simulation environment. And the authors will achieve this through experimental case studies with an e-commerce business plan, called Webfill, for online construction and demolition (C & D) waste exchange in Hong Kong. The methodologies adopted in this article include literature review, system analysis and development, simulation modelling and analysis, and case study. Results from this article include the conception of e-commerce system simulation, a comprehensive review of simulation methods adopted in e-commerce system evaluation, and a real case study of applying simulation to e-commerce system evaluation. Furthermore, the authors hope that the adoption and implementation of process simulation can effectively support business decision-making, and improve the efficiency of e-commerce systems.

This article presents a novel e-commerce simulation using a case e-commerce system, Webfill, which is integrated with the TTS used in Hong Kong for managing C & D waste disposal. The Webfill e-commerce system provides an online C & D waste exchange platform between construction contractors, property managers, construction material manufacturers and recyclers, and landfill managers. In order to evaluate the performance of the Webfill enhanced TTS e-commerce system on reducing the C & D waste, a process based simulation is conducted which allows the authors to directly compare the TTS and the Webfill enhanced TTS. Simulation results indicate that the Webfill enhanced TTS apparently reduces the total amount of the C & D waste, through encouraging the increase of waste recovery. It is thus suggested that the Webfill enhanced TTS be applied in the Hong Kong construction industry in order to deal with the continuously increasing amount of the C & D waste. Furthermore, the Webfill simulation experiments a new area of e-commerce business plan evaluation, in which the concept of process simulation can be successfully implemented. Further research efforts will engage into Webfill model revision based on simulation results, and consummate simulation parameters as well. The successful application of process simulation in e-commerce business plan evaluation in this article reveals an emerging trend in e-commerce strategic management using quantitative approaches. Because process simulation is generally accepted in business management, it is an economical way to directly use commercial process simulation package for e-commerce simulation. However, as there are some limitations in process simulation packages such as no permission for users to modify internal and external business environmental factors based on their various experiments, it is essential to use current business strategic management tools such as the SWOT analysis in e-commerce system evaluation as complements. In this regard, further research tasks are required to integrate current qualitative strategic management tools into business process simulation environment.