Beyond electronic disintermediation through multi‐agent systems

Supply chain management represents a critical competency in today’s global business environment and has been the focus of considerable, but mixed, information systems research. The research described in this paper builds on work in multi‐agent systems to argue that intelligent agents offer excellent potential and capability for supply chain management, and contributes to discussion and theory pertaining to electronic markets and supply chain disintermediation. Argues that the knowledge associated with intermediation work represents a key mediating variable between disintermediating technology and supply chain efficacy and discusses how intelligent agent technology can be employed to both intermediate and disintermediate the supply chain, attaining the cost and cycle‐time benefits of disintermediation without the attendant loss of human knowledge and expertise. The paper outlines a number of implications for theory and practice in information systems, and it formalizes some important research questions through a contingency framework to help stimulate and guide future work along these lines.