Today, Tharaka Ilayperuma defended his PhD thesis “Improving E-Business Design through Business Model Analysis”. The opponent was William Song from Durham University, and the examination committee consisted of Marianne Nilsson from Stockholm University, Eva Söderström from Högskolan Skövde and Henrik Hansson from DSV. Paul Johannesson and Jelena Zdravkovic have been supervisors.

William gave a very thorough opposition including more general as well as very specific questions, ranging from the meaning of e-business to the role of the Semantic Web in business models.

Abstract
To a rapidly increasing degree, traditional organizational structures evolve in large parts of the world towards online business using modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capabilities. For efficient applications of inter-organizational information systems, the alignment between business and ICT is a key factor. In this context, business analysis using business modelling can be regarded as a first step in designing economically sustainable e-business solutions.
This thesis examines how business modeling can be used to improve e-business design. We examine how business stakeholder intentions and different objectives of business collaborations can be used to obtain an explorative business model that can be used as a basis for designing e-business solutions. The thesis proposes a set of artifacts for business modeling and e-service design. In regard to business modeling, we propose methods that consider internal aspects such as strategic intentions of actors and external aspects such as business collaborations among them. Considering stakeholder intentions, we introduce a method to design business models based on goal models. A set of templates for designing goal models and a set of transformation rules to obtain business models based on goal models are proposed. To further improve business models considering business collaborations, we suggest a classification of business transactions that considers underlying business objectives of business collaborations. Utilizing the suggested business transactions, we then propose a method to improve business modeling. Finally, we propose a method for designing e-services using business models. The methods suggested support business modelers as well as process and services designers in executing their tasks effectively. The methods have been assessed through applications in two cases.