The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a PhD research (Heinzl, 2007)

Looks at the changing nature of the construction supply industry and the role of electronic commerce in the evolved market. With the emphasis shifting from supply-to demanddriven product design, the trading relationships become more complex. In their current form, electronic commerce and brokering systems are too immature to support such relationships. Proposes an electronic market in design and supply capability that spans the supply chain and discusses some of the research issues raised by such a prospect. Many elements of a technical solution are available. The research must address significant changes in working practices and soft systems methods addressing human issues, which are more important than technological design. Exploration of business process re-engineering options using simulation models is another important aspect of the work. Although the target area is the construction industry, many of the issues which will need to be explored are relevant for other sectors moving to adopt open networked solutions.

Abstract

Substantial numbers of Indonesian women are seeking employment as domestic workers in Malaysia in order to escape poverty and unemployment and to be able to support their families back home. Most Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia face unpleasant working conditions with long working hours and no freedom to move or communicate; some find themselves in a situation of abuse. In many cases, the decision to work abroad is made without being properly informed about what to expect. Furthermore, most of the Indonesian migrant domestic workers do not know about process and procedures and are not aware of their rights and the possibilities of seeking assistance when problems occur. In order to empower the target group, relevant information need to be disseminated. Current strategies do not seem to achieve the desired effect. Many of the affected women come from remote areas, are poor and have a low level of education; therefore, their skills to make use of written or even digital information are limited. Appropriate strategies are suggested to utilise traditional and commonly used information dissemination channels such as cultural performances, group discussions and radio. Educational measures should be combined with aspects of local entertainment culture in order to attract attention and to provoke identification with the issues discussed. Further research is necessary to actually develop an appropriate information dissemination strategy with regard to the target group and to evaluate its benefits by conducting pilot projects.

This paper reviews the changing nature of construction design and the potential for e-procurement to respond to these changes. With the emphasis shifting from supplydriven to demand-driven product design the trading relationships within the industry must become more complex. This paper hypothesizes an electronic market in design and supply capability to exploit distributed design knowledge within the supply chain. In their current form, e-commerce and brokering systems are too immature to support such relationships, but many elements of a technical solution are available. However, how they will reshape working practices is uncertain and this poses architectural and human organization problems for information systems (IS) developers. They must anticipate and address changes in working practices across a whole group of industries competing within a complex market place. We postulate a development approach that uses simulation models supported by soft systems methods to explore these process re-engineering options and human issues. The simulation of new business processes, combined with prototype IS designs, offers a powerful mechanism for evaluating the effects of proposed architectures for 'design transactions' in e-procurement. The open learning that occurs in simulation experiments is also a key element in helping the management of the individual organizations in understanding how to shape their particular contribution to the new collaborative process. A major barrier to enhancing construction industry performance in this way is the defensive nature of existing contracts and lack of trust between parties; we therefore propose the use of COLA process in parallel with the simulation work to engender trust and improved working relationships between the collaborating organizations.