Multiple products partner selection model of virtual enterprise based on multi-agent systems

 Abstract—Partner selection of virtual enterprise is the process that selects suitable cooperative enterprises for virtual enterprise. It is an important problem in virtual enterprise. This paper adopts a five-phase partner selection model that can select partners for multiple products/services considering the synergy effects between products/services. The proposed partner selection model is realized by a multi-agent system. An extended TOPSIS technique is implemented in the pre-selection phase to indentify qualified potential partners. An auction-based approach is adopted in the final selection phase to generate the optimum combination of partners for the provision of multiple products in consideration of synergy effects.