An incentive mechanism for integration of business applications between organizations

Extending services and operations of organizations in the field of e-business or e-government sometimes requires the integration of business applications. However, sometimes due to challenges and risks, such as complex business processes reengineering, upstream organizations are reluctant to integrate their applications. This paper focuses on two critical questions; (1) How can organizations be encouraged to participate in integrating their business applications? (2) What is the amount of incentives required? In this study, cooperative game theory and the externalities of these systems have been considered to form a stable coalition between organizations for integrating their business applications. We provided an algorithm for determining the incentives to integrate the business applications with other organizations in this coalition. These incentives can be extended to various management issues for better decision-making such as economic aspects, public subsidies, and public participation. The results of experiments have shown that creating a coalition based on this strategy is always possible, and the benefits of organizations in the coalition rise with increasing service delivery in business applications.