Ontology-engineered MSME Framework
M. Saravanan
1
, M. Amirtha Varshini
2
and Brindha S.
2
1
Ericsson India Private Ltd, Chennai, India
2
Department of Information Technology, Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College, Chennai, India
Keywords: Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, Middlemen, Ontology Engineered Framework, JSON,
Android, Cloud Environment.
Abstract: Micro, Small and Medium scale Enterprises (MSMEs) hold an unfailing distinction of being pillars of
equitable economic growth. Lack of proper business platforms and knowledge of marketing strategies
render MSMEs vulnerable to middlemen exploitation. The Web has extended e-business platforms, e-
commerce and micro financing solutions to assist MSMEs. These web-based solutions fail to obliterate
intermediation. In view of the advancements and customers’ growth in the telecommunications field, we
utilize the mobile platform to offer trading solutions to MSMEs. In this paper, we propose a mobile phone-
based ontology engineered framework for MSMEs that can achieve disintermediation. The framework has
been tested on mobile cloud akin to EC2 cloud environment and integrated with an android application that
provides easy access - anytime, anywhere. The envisioned framework will boost MSME margins, build
healthy business-ties and transform MSMEs into self-sufficient establishments equipped with full-fledged
trading systems that operate in mobile phone enabled environment.
1 INTRODUCTION
Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises
(MSMEs) hold a trustful distinction of being pillars
of equitable economic growth and account for 90%
of global businesses (Abor and Quartey, 2010).
Middlemen - wholesalers, distributors, agents and
brokers, perform essential trading tasks for MSMEs.
Middlemen primarily focus on identifying
interdependencies in the market, in terms of
'exchange opportunities' between MSMEs (Gadde
and Snehota, 2001). Middlemen tend to misuse their
market knowledge to exploit MSMEs and reap
excessive profits. MSMEs often lay claim of
middlemen pocketing their margins besides
indulging in unfair trading practices like adulteration
and hoarding (Himachalam, 1991). Significant
development in the fields of Information
Technology and World Wide Web has aided in
providing Internet-based solutions for MSMEs but,
fail to obliterate intermediation. However, small
business owners are unable to comprehend and use
PC-based Internet solutions due to limited
knowledge of technologies (Cooke, 2000). This calls
for a standard framework that can extend 24 × 7
support to MSMEs through mobile phones.
Remarkable advancements in the telecommunication
field and mobile phones in particular, have provided
viable alternatives to web solutions. The paper aims
at utilizing the mobile platform to offer trading
solutions for MSMEs. We propose to build an
ontology-engineered framework for mobile
networks environment that can effectively replace
middlemen. The overall system architecture is
shown in Fig 1. Considering the explosive volume of
data to be stored and processed, the proposed system
runs on mobile cloud environment for high
scalability. A user friendly Android application is
integrated to assure quick, easy and round-the-clock
access to the middlemen replacement components on
cloud. Ontology is defined as a “formal, explicit
specification of conceptualization” (Gruber, 1995).
Ontology represents knowledge of a domain in a
declarative language, by defining a set of
representational terms. Ontology can be represented
as a hierarchical structure of domain knowledge by
subcategorizing entities observed to be existent in
the domain. This paper focuses on such an ontology
built for MSME domain. The framework supports
the process of generating and storing JSON (Java
Script Object Notation) for representing ontology.
JSON is also used as an electronic data exchange
format for communication between client and server.
241
Saravanan M., Amirtha Varshini M. and S. B..
Ontology-engineered MSME Framework.
DOI: 10.5220/0004050402410244
In Proceedings of the International Conference on Data Technologies and Applications (DATA-2012), pages 241-244
ISBN: 978-989-8565-18-1
Copyright
c
2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
Figure 1: Overall System Architecture.
An ensemble of the MSME domain ontology, JSON
Library, mobile cloud and android application end
point constitute the Ontology engineered MSME
framework.
2 RELATED WORK
The recent past has witnessed development of a
multitude of applications and services to assist
MSMEs. Popular web applications provide CRM
systems (Achuama and Usoro, 2010) and human
resources management (Andersen, 2003) solutions.
Most of the web solutions aim at providing a
business platform for the small-scale firms to sell
their produces in the online market. E-commerce
applications have been developed to cover business
transactions (Olatokun and Kebonye, 2010). But in
reality, MSMEs turn to another class of middlemen
to carry out their online trading (Cooke, 2000).
Consequently, MSMEs end-up paying two different
classes of middlemen.
A significant related development in the
telecommunications field, pertaining to ontology is
the Ontological Framework for Mobile Health
Services (Saravanan et al, 2010). In the framework,
health ontology was used to provide location-based
assistance in case of medical emergencies.
Mobile cloud, considered as the next-generation
technology, is extensively used to provide services
to mobile phone networks (Stuart et al., 2011). The
Amazon EC2 is one of the recent developments in
the field of cloud computing that offers many cloud
related solutions as web services (Varia, 2010). This
paper describes a highly scalable system developed
for MSMEs using the ontology-engineered
framework that uses cloud for data storage and
processing. The android application has remote
access to framework components that run on cloud,
for effective and efficient processing.
3 PROPOSED FRAMEWORK
The proposed framework as shown in Fig 2 is
explained through following components.
DATA2012-InternationalConferenceonDataTechnologiesandApplications
242
Figure 2: Component diagram.
3.1.1 Intelligent Search Engine
The search engine retrieves relevant search result for
products searched by MSMEs within the system.
Any query given to the system is first built to a
format understandable by the engine. The Search
History Analyser suggests the products an MSME
meant by a given query by analysing search history.
Context of query is identified by considering
purchase history and the nature of MSME business.
Moreover, spellcheck algorithm provides 80-90%
tolerance to spelling mistakes. The search engine
provides location based search results.
3.1.2 Order Placement and Processing
The system calculates the optimal order quantity and
the minimal buffer quantity of raw materials using
the EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) model. When
the inventory nears the minimal buffer quantity, the
system suggests the reorder quantity from statistical
analysis of purchase history. MSMEs can parallelize
order for readily available products and use custom-
specific negotiator for custom-made products.
3.1.3 Logistics and Delivery
Logistics and delivery component derive the most
suitable logistics service provider for a given order.
The most suitable logistics service is identified by
considering purchase history, time-to-deliver,
distance between and cost estimation.
3.1.4 Advertisements
Product promotion is automated by the
Advertisements component. Product based
interdependencies are identified from the MSME
ontology. Advertisements of products required by
MSMEs are automatically multicast to the mobile
phones of prospective buyers.
3.1.5 Market Educator
The component aims at imparting market knowledge
to MSMEs by creating and managing an MSME
knowledgebase. Input for the knowledgebase is
derived from domain experts to assist MSMEs with
quick lookup of solutions to problems they face in
trading.
3.1.6 Business Facilitator
The component identifies product based similarities
between MSMEs and groups them together.
Similarities are identified by querying MSME
domain ontology. Besides, the component provides
platform for MSMEs within a group to involve in
Ontology-engineeredMSMEFramework
243
collaborative investments and purchases.
4 OTHER RELATED
COMPONENTS
4.1 Mobile Cloud
The framework executes on a mobile cloud for
efficient information processing and storage. The
architecture of the mobile cloud environment is very
similar to that of EC2 cloud (Varia, 2010). The
mobile cloud extends various services to the mobile
phone registered with the system. The cloud spawns
a new virtual machine containing an instance of the
framework for every new session.
4.2 Android Application
The android application acts as an entry point to the
mobile cloud which hosts the framework. Using the
android application, MSMEs can Search for
products, Take advice on optimal order quantity,
Distribute order quantity to purchase from a
combination of different MSMEs, Customize order
specifications to suit the ever-changing needs, Hold
negotiations and transactions directly with the
concerned MSMEs, Track products and obtain
delivery updates as simple text messages, Promote
products to prospective buyers.
5 DISCUSSION
The Ontology-engineered framework makes all
aspects of intermediation available to MSMEs,
without middlemen's intervention. Every factor that
makes MSMEs dependent on middlemen has been
analysed and provided with a viable alternative. It is
evident from the information outlined in the paper
that the framework, together with mobile cloud and
android application end point, play a vital role in
eliminating the need for middlemen.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE
WORK
The framework discussed in the paper possesses the
potential to introduce a revolutionary breakthrough
in the MSME market structure. In order to further
ease out the comprehensibility and usage of the
android application, we plan to integrate a regional
language translator with the MSME framework.
We plan to build a domain-independent,
generalized framework as an extension of the
MSME framework. The generalized framework can
be easily extended and integrated with applications
pertaining to any domain like Finance, Healthcare,
Education, etc. The generalized framework
introduces a new medium to build domain-specific
ontologies. It is to be bundled with an easy-to-use
interface that will enable developers to integrate
domain ontologies with applications pertaining to
their domain of interest.
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