A multi-period stochastic portfolio optimization model applied for an airline company in the EU ETS

This paper aims to set up and solve a multi-period stochastic portfolio optimization model from an airline company’s point of view, considering all the specific European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) regulatory, managerial and trading constraints (i.e. physical constraints). Our contribution to existing academic literature is multiple. As the first ever case, we apply this technique to the aviation sector, a newly included sector within the EU ETS. More than mainly incorporating physical and technical (‘engineering’) features and focusing on short-term planning issues, we particularly address financial features and focus on mid-term planning issues. Therefore, instead of using spot prices, we run Monte Carlo simulations of correlated geometric Brownian motions (GBM) for traded futures prices of various emission allowance types for different CO₂ delivery time periods. We thereby specifically refer to the existing exchange-traded emission allowance types EU Emission Allowance (EUA) and Certified Emission Reduction (CER). By implementing actually valid and real-world-oriented regulatory constraints for EU ETS, namely managerial and trading constraints, our model implies a real-life application. We also highlight the possibility of banking and borrowing of emission allowances between CO₂ compliance periods, which is a crucial regulatory feature of EU ETS.     

Environmental considerations on the optimal product mix

Several types of regulations limit the amount of different emissions that a firm may create from its production processes. Depending on the emission, these regulations could include threshold values, penalties and taxes, and/or emission allowances that can be traded. However, many firms try to comply with these regulations without a systematic plan, often leading not only to emission violations and high penalties, but also to high costs. In this paper, we present two mathematical models that can be used by firms to determine their optimal product mix and production quantities in the presence of several different types of environmental constraints, in addition to typical production constraints. Both models are comprehensive and incorporate several diverse production and environmental issues. The first model, which assumes that each product has just one operating procedure, is a linear program while the second model, which assumes that the firm has the option of producing each product using more than one operating procedure, is a mixed integer linear program. The solutions of both models identify the products that the firm should produce along with their production quantities. These models can be used by firms to quickly analyze several “what if” scenarios such as the impact of changes in emission threshold values, emission taxes, trading allowances, and trading transaction costs.     

ENERGY‐USE CHOICES AND ALLOWANCE TRADING UNDER THE PERSONAL CARBON TRADING SCHEME

Carbon emissions caused by the household sector have become a major contributor to total emissions. Personal carbon trading (PCT), although untested in practice, could potentially be a powerful tool to induce change in consumer behavior. In this paper, we present an optimization model to determine the energy use choices and allowance trading, and a market equilibrium model to obtain the total supply and demand functions of allowances and then to derive the equilibrium allowance price. It is shown that the level of allocated allowance, energy price, emission rate, and transaction costs could influence the equilibrium allowance price and traded volume. Furthermore, the allowance price is affected negatively and slightly by changes in energy prices, so the total energy price variations will be lessened relatively in the PCT scheme. To further demonstrate these relationships, numerical simulations are conducted. On the basis of the simulation results, the implications of this study are discussed and suggestions for future study are provided.     

持股策略下随机需求低碳供应链融资决策均衡

随机市场需求且受制造商减排水平影响,考虑碳限额与交易机制,研究制造商进行单纯银行借贷和供应商投资持股的组合融资时的最优决策和利润情况,分析消费者低碳偏好、碳交易价格和供应商的投资持股比例对供应链的最优决策变量和利润的影响。研究发现:无资金约束、单纯银行借贷和组合融资下,消费者低碳偏好、碳交易价格和持股比例与制造商的减排水平和利润以及供应链系统的利润正相关,而供应商的批发价格和制造商的生产量与消费者低碳偏好正相关,与碳交易价格负相关,而持股比例与供应商的批发价格负相关,与制造商的生产量和减排水平正相关;持股策略下制造商的减排水平和生产量最大,无资金约束时次之,单纯银行借贷时最小;而无资金约束时供应商的批发价格最高,单纯银行借贷时次之,持股策略时最低;在持股比例满足一定条件下,供应商和制造商的利润优于单纯银行借贷时的利润,并且可以优于无资金约束时的利润,提高了供应链的竞争力和效率。     

天气影响产出下订单农业质量分级模式协调机制研究

本文假定公司承担种子、化肥、农药等成本,农产品实际产出受截断正态分布自然条件影响,在农户参与性约束条件下,建立公司利润最大化决策模型。模型中农户在满足参与约束下自愿提供土地及劳动力,并按照公司技术指导进行生产。探讨了不同自然条件对最优收购价格和公司利润的影响,分析了集中销售与质量分级销售模式的区别。通过研究发现,不利天气造成的减产比有利天气增产的强度大时,随着天气风险的增大,定单价格增大、公司利润降低;反之,定单价格随着自然风险的增大而减少、公司利润增大。由于质量分级销售比集中销售模式对于提高公司利润总是有利的,建议公司按统一价格收购后以质量分级模式进行销售。     

A green train scheduling model and fuzzy multi-objective optimization algorithm

Train scheduling model is traditionally formulated to minimize the energy consumption for reducing the operation cost. As the European Union formulates the first carbon emission trading scheme in the world, it is necessary to extend the operation cost to include the expenses for buying/selling the carbon emission allowances. In this paper, we propose a multi-objective train scheduling model by minimizing the energy and carbon emission cost as well as the total passenger-time, and named it as green train scheduling model. For obtaining a non-dominated timetable which has equal satisfactory degree on both objectives, we apply a fuzzy multi-objective optimization algorithm to solve the model. Finally, we perform two numerical examples to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed model and solution methodology.     

C&T条件下碳排放核查三方博弈研究

针对总量控制与交易机制(C&T)条件下的碳排放核查问题,构建了一个三方博弈模型,对控排企业、第三方核查机构和政府监管部门的博弈行为进行了分析,得到了该三方博弈的均衡条件;对于当前给定政府复查行为,分析了企业的最优上报碳强度。研究结果表明,“以历史碳强度为参考,控排企业上报碳强度差异越大复查概率越大”的政府复查机制存在一定的不合理性,尤其当实际碳强度高于参考碳强度时,可能导致控排企业和第三方核查机构的合谋;相对配额分配方式下,碳强度上升比总排放上升更可能导致控排企业瞒报碳排放,而且工业增加值高的大企业瞒报风险更高;当政府复查概率提高到一定程度时,可以有效抑制控排企业和第三方核查机构的合谋行为。本文的研究结果对政府碳排放复查政策的制定具有一定的借鉴意义。     

预付款模式下农业供应链的生产与融资研究

本文分析由一个农户和一个公司组成的农业供应链决策系统,其中农户具有资金约束并且具有产出不确定性,农户为了缓解资金压力可向公司申请预付款融资。为了研究预付款融资模式下供应链各方的决策和收益情况,本文分别构建了传统融资模式和预付款融资模式下的运作决策模型,并将两者进行分析对比。研究结果表明,农户在具有破产风险时采取银行融资获得的利润并非最优,在一定情况下,采取预付款融资双方将获得更大的收益。农户的最优决策方案受到丰收年产出因子、银行利率和价格弹性系数的影响。当丰收年产出因子较小或银行利率较高时,预付款融资模式能给农户带来更多收益。丰收年产出因子较低时,农户的融资策略对公司利润影响相同。在丰收年产出因子适中时,公司更期望农户选择预付款模式。     

碳交易机制下考虑竞争和信息非对称的供应链协调研究

本文在碳交易机制下,考虑制造商之间存在竞争且减排成本系数为低碳制造商私有信息的情况,分别构建信息完全对称和信息非对称情形下的供应链模型,对低碳制造商减排率和产品销售价格进行决策。通过引入由批发价和成本共担组成的联合契约,促使低碳制造商传递真实的减排成本信息,并通过算例对碳交易价格和减排成本系数等进行灵敏度分析。研究发现:引入联合契约能够使得信息非对称下的供应链利润基本达到集中决策水平;碳交易价格的增加会激励制造商积极减排、降低碳排放总量、提高供应链利润;低碳制造商减排成本系数的降低有助于减少碳排放量、增加产品市场需求、实现供应链利润增长。     

需求不确定的多周期的容量决策问题

研究每个周期的需求随机增加的情形下的容量扩充问题,建立起切合实际的有限周期随机动态规划模型及在期现值准则下的无限周期随机动态规划模型,进而探索生产单一产品的公司在面对随机增加的市场需求时,风险中立的管理者该如何扩充其生产容量,才能使得其公司在折扣意义下的总期望利润最大.研究无限阶段的容量扩充问题,得出某种约束条件下的优化策略解,给公司管理者提供了其长期可持续发展的优化策略和依据.     

Determining sourcing strategies: a decision model based on activity and cost driver information

Determining sourcing strategies for different material groups provides a major challenge to most companies. There has been little research on the choice of the optimal number of different suppliers for a given product group and the determination of their market shares. In this paper we propose a mathematical programming model using activity based costing information to determine optimal order splitting among suppliers on the basis of the different costs associated with the purchasing decision. We argue that sourcing strategies should be based on the minimisation of the total cost of ownership resulting from external purchases. We demonstrate the model by a real life case regarding the procurement of ball bearings at Cockerill Sambre S.A., a Belgian multinational steel producer. This decision support system is currently used by the company. This case resulted in the decision by management to develop comprehensive, company wide purchasing software using our mathematical program based on the total cost of ownership concept.     

Cost/risk balanced management of scarce resources using stochastic programming

We consider the situation when a scarce renewable resource should be periodically distributed between different users by a Resource Management Authority (RMA). The replenishment of this resource as well as users demand is subject to considerable uncertainty. We develop cost optimization and risk management models that can assist the RMA in its decision about striking the balance between the level of target delivery to the users and the level of risk that this delivery will not be met. These models are based on utilization and further development of the general methodology of stochastic programming for scenario optimization, taking into account appropriate risk management approaches. By a scenario optimization model we obtain a target barycentric value with respect to selected decision variables. A successive reoptimization of deterministic model for the worst case scenarios allows the reduction of the risk of negative consequences derived from unmet resources demand. Our reference case study is the distribution of scarce water resources. We show results of some numerical experiments in real physical systems.     

随机产出环境下联产品的产量及价格策略研究

基于制造商生产主产品的过程中会随机产出两类存在替代关系的副产品的联产品系统,采用清仓定价模型,研究了不同需求函数(线性需求和指数需求)下,制造商对于主产品和副产品的最优产量与定价策略。通过两阶段优化模型的建立和求解,确定了主产品的最优产量和价格。借助数值分析,归纳出产品替代度和产出波动性对最优产量和利润的影响。研究结果表明,随着产品替代度的增加,制造商的产量上升;随着波动性的增加,制造商的产量下降。最后,将模型扩展到市场非出清的情况,并得出制造商的最优生产决策。     

电子商务环境下考虑退货的选址库存问题模型与算法

选址库存问题(location inventory problem, LIP)是物流系统集成的经典问题之一,也是企业需要面对的管理决策难题。本文考虑在电子商务环境下无质量缺陷的退货商品可简单再包装后重新进入销售市场这一现实情况,对设施选址和库存控制进行集成优化,构建随机需求下有退货的LIP模型。针对此问题求解的复杂性,设计了改进的自适应混合差分进化算法对模型进行整体求解。最后,通过多组算例验证了模型和算法的实用性和优越性,可为设施选址、库存控制和商品配送回收决策提供重要参考依据。     

随机产出与需求下农户融资模式选择研究

农业是国民经济的基础,但农业融资一直存在许多困难。本文在考虑农户的破产风险,产出随机性以及市场需求不确定的基础之上,构建由单一公司与资金约束的单一农户构成的订单农业供应链决策模型,得到了农户在面对银行信贷、贸易信贷、组合信贷时的最优决策的选择策略。研究表明,当公司利率大于银行利率且农产品生长周期较长,或者当公司利率小于银行利率且农产品生产周期较短时,农户应在银行利率较小时选择银行信贷,在银行利率较大时选择贸易信贷。而在其余情况中,农户需要综合考虑农产品价格敏感系数等因素来决定是否选择组合信贷模式。     

博弈参与人的偏好对最优反应的影响分析

在现实社会中，每个人都有自己的偏好，因此在博弈过程中，参与人的不同偏好在其选择策略时起着不同的作用。本文运用多目标决策方法研究了总需求不确定情况下具有风险偏好的企业决策者关于一种产品价格博弈模型和均衡，并进一步讨论了参与人具有相同偏好和不同偏好情况下风险厌恶程度、价格对需求影响程度等参数对参与人最优反应的影响。     

Decision making in stock trading: An application of PROMETHEE

The key issue for decision making in stock trading is selection of the right stock at the right time. In order to select the superior stocks (alternatives) for investment, a finite number of alternatives have to be ranked considering several and sometimes conflicting criteria. Therefore, we are faced with a special multicriteria decision-making problem. The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision-making model for selecting superior stocks in stock exchange and a model is provided in order to structure this problem. The proposed model is structured around two pillars: Industry evaluation and Company evaluation. The preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) has been used for solving the problem. The model has been applied at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) as a real case and a survey from the experts in order to determine the effective criteria for industry evaluation and company evaluation has been conducted.     

BOT项目特许权期和投资规模决策分析

在需求随时间不断增长情况下,建立了BOT项目公司进行投资规模决策和政府进行特许权期决策的模型,求得了项目公司的最优投资规模决策和政府的最优特许权期决策,并对影响双方决策的变量进行了讨论,结果表明项目公司的最优投资规模不是特许权内完全满足市场需求的最大规模,且其投资规模应随特许权期的延长、项目设计寿命的增加和产品价格的上升而扩大。政府应随需求增长系数的增大和项目设计寿命的增加而延长特许权期,随项目产品价格的上升而缩短特许权期,且政府可以通过适当调整自己的保留收益来保证项目的顺利进行。     

MARKET FORCES AND DYNAMIC ASSET PRICING

We study a dynamic model of asset pricing which is driven by two characteristic market features: the law of investor demand (e.g., “buy low, sell high”) and the law of the market institution (which codifies the trading rules under which the market operates). We demonstrate in a simple investor–specialist trading market that these features are sufficient to guarantee an equilibrium where investors' trading strategies and the specialist's rule of price adjustments are best responses to each other. The drift term appearing in the resulting equation of the asset price process may be interpreted using Newtonian mechanics as the acceleration of a “market force.” If either of the market participants is risk-neutral, the result leads to risk-neutral asset pricing (e.g., the Black and Scholes option pricing formula).     

需求中断下具有提前期的双渠道供应链的风险规避决策

讨论了由一个制造商和一个零售商所组成的双渠道供应链在需求中断下具有提前期的双渠道供应链的风险规避问题.给出了在需求中断前后的最优价格、最优提前期和最优生产决策.研究表明决策变化量是需求中断量的线性函数,在集中式下最优的决策和销售量与供应链的市场份额和需求中断有关,模型的最优生产体现了一定的稳健性.对于提前期来说,当市场份额较大时,最优提前期关于风险规避系数呈正比例,当市场份额较小时,最优提前期关于风险规避系数呈反比例.