PPA BASED PREDICTION-CORRECTION METHODS FOR MONOTONE VARIATIONAL INEQUALITIES

In this paper we study the proximal point algorithm (PPA) based prediction-correction (PC) methods for monotone variational inequalities. Each iteration of these methods consists of a prediction and a correction. The predictors are produced by inexact PPA steps. The new iterates are then updated by a correction using the PPA formula. We present two profit functions which serve two purposes: First we show that the profit functions are tight lower bounds of the improvements obtained in each iteration. Based on this conclusion we obtain the convergence inexactness restrictions for the prediction step. Second we show that the profit functions are quadratically dependent upon the step lengths, thus the optimal step lengths are obtained in the correction step. In the last part of the paper we compare the strengths of different methods based on their inexactness restrictions.     

Differentiability of average profit as a function of the cycle-level period

It is proved that profit and average profit considered as level functions are continuously differentiable along the level cycle for a typical continuous control system on the circle with positive speeds and a differentiable profit density with finitely many critical points. __________ Translated from Sovremennaya Matematika i Ee Prilozheniya (Contemporary Mathematics and Its Applications), Vol. 38, Suzdal Conference-2004, Part 3, 2006.     

A Multi-Objective Production Inventory Model with Backorder for Fuzzy Random Demand Under Flexibility and Reliability

In this paper, an Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) model is developed with flexibility and reliability consideration of production process in an imprecise and uncertain mixed environment. The model has incorporated fuzzy random demand, an imprecise production preparation time and shortage. Here, the setup cost and the reliability of the production process along with the backorder replenishment time and production run period are the decision variables. Due to fuzzy-randomness of the demand, expected average demand is a fuzzy quantity and also imprecise preparation time is represented by fuzzy number. Therefore, both are first transformed to a corresponding interval number and then using the interval arithmetic, the single objective function for expected profit over the time cycle is changed to respective multi-objective functions. Due to highly nonlinearity of the expected profit functions it is optimized using a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The associated profit maximization problem is illustrated by numerical examples and also its sensitivity analysis is carried out.     

Profit maximization problem for Cobb–Douglas and CES production functions

Production functions are used to model the production activity of enterprises. In this article, we formulate the necessary and sufficient conditions of strict concavity for Cobb–Douglas and constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production functions. These conditions constitute the theoretical foundation for analyzing the profit maximization problem. An optimal solution is constructed in analytical form and some of its properties are described. Three approaches to solving the profit maximization problem are considered and their equivalence is established. For a Cobb–Douglas production function we investigate the dependence of the maximum profit on elasticity coefficients. A similar analysis is carried out also for the CES production function. The article presents a systematic and detailed discussion of the relevant topics. The topic is related to the investigation of innovation activity of enterprises. The theoretical results and the explicit analytical relationships provide a theoretical and algorithmic base for the “Planer” optimization software—a useful product for the analysis of the production activity of enterprises modeled by production function tools.     

Credit scoring for profitability objectives

In consumer credit markets lending decisions are usually represented as a set of classification problems. The objective is to predict the likelihood of customers ending up in one of a finite number of states, such as good/bad payer, responder/non-responder and transactor/non-transactor. Decision rules are then applied on the basis of the resulting model estimates. However, this represents a misspecification of the true objectives of commercial lenders, which are better described in terms of continuous financial measures such as bad debt, revenue and profit contribution. In this paper, an empirical study is undertaken to compare predictive models of continuous financial behaviour with binary models of customer default. The results show models of continuous financial behaviour to outperform classification approaches. They also demonstrate that scoring functions developed to specifically optimize profit contribution, using genetic algorithms, outperform scoring functions derived from optimizing more general functions such as sum of squared error.     

Optimal Distributed Dynamic Advertising

We propose a novel approach to modeling advertising dynamics for a firm operating over a distributed market domain based on controlled partial differential equations of the diffusion type. Using our model, we consider a general type of finite-horizon profit maximization problem in a monopoly setting. By reformulating this profit maximization problem as an optimal control problem in infinite dimensions, we derive sufficient conditions for the existence of its optimal solutions under general profit functions, as well as state and control constraints, and provide a general characterization of the optimal solutions. Sharper, feedback-form characterizations of the optimal solutions are obtained for two variants of the general problem. The first author gratefully acknowledges financial support by the NSF, the DAAD, the SFB 611 (Bonn), and the Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik (Leipzig) through an IPDE fellowship.     

Optimal budget allocation when response is S-shaped

We consider the profit maximizing allocation of a budget among n activities when the revenue from each activity is an S-shaped function of the budget allocated to it. Results are obtained for functions that cross only in the convex part. A simple computational procedure based on these results is presented. The results are specialized to cases where the functions do not cross, are multiples of the same function, are identical, and are piecewise linear.     

Using several advertising media in a homogeneous market

We propose a variety of models to represent the joint effect of several advertising media on the demand for a product in a homogeneous market, and discuss the associated profit maximization problems. An advertising productivity function represents the combination of several media and, together with demand and advertising cost functions, determines the features of the associated profit problem. We distinguish between additive and nonadditive advertising productivity functions, then between smooth and nonsmooth ones. The demand function may either be linear or not. We observe how different models may exhibit either synergy or interference effects. In some cases we obtain explicit optimal solutions.     

考虑衍生需求和粉丝效应的视频服务供应链质量努力策略研究

视频服务作为“互联网+”时代下的新型文化产业模式,日益受到人们的关注。本文构建一个视频服务平台和一个视频服务提供商组成的视频服务供应链,视频服务提供商通过视频服务平台向用户提供基础服务和两阶段衍生服务。考虑视频服务供应链成员的四种行为因素对服务需求的影响,并分别建立平台定价模式和提供商定价模式下服务供应链成员的利润函数,运用博弈理论,优化求解得到两种模式下服务供应链成员最优的质量努力策略和利润。最后,通过数值仿真,探讨了粉丝效应和收益分成比例与最优质量努力策略和最优利润的相关性,并得出相关结论,给出管理启示。     

基于D-S理论的延期支付与存货质押业务决策模型

由于市场的不确定性,延期支付货款和存货质押融资中存在诸多不确定因素,使得资金需求企业难以做出有效的选择。针对此问题,从资金需求企业利润最大化的角度出发,首先分别给出了延期支付和存货质押两种业务下的企业利润模型,进而基于D-S理论建立了两种业务的决策模型。该模型以存货质押和延期支付业务下企业利润差额为目标函数,根据证据推理,以信任函数和似然函数构造出利润差额的上下界概率分布,并据此给出两种业务的决策依据。算例分析表明,对资金需求企业来说,存货质押融资业务并不一定优于延期支付,在特定的市场环境下,需要利用本文提出的模型进行定量计算,从而做出最优的选择。     

Incorporating one-way substitution policy into the newsboy problem with imprecise customer demand

This paper presents an approach for solving an inventory model for single-period products with maximizing its expected profit in a fuzzy environment, in which the retailer has the opportunity for substitution. Though various structures of substitution arise in real life, in this study we consider the fuzzy model for two-item with one-way substitution policy. This one-way substitutability is reasonable when the products can be stored according to certain attribute levels such as quality, brand or package size. Again, to describe uncertainty usually probability density functions are being used. However, there are many situations in real world that utilize knowledge-based information to describe the uncertainty. The objective of this study is to provide an analysis of single-period inventory model in a fuzzy environment that enables us to compute the expected resultant profit under substitution. An efficient numerical search procedure is provided to identify the optimal order quantities, in which the utilization of imprecise demand and the use of one-way substitution policy increase the average expected profit. The benefit of product substitution is illustrated through numerical example.     

Optimal Goodwill Path to Introduce a New Product

We consider the problem of determining an optimal goodwill path for the introduction of a new product in a market, while looking for the maximum foreseen profit. The foreseen revenue depends on the product introduction time and on the goodwill level at the same time. We focus on the advertising costs associated with the goodwill evolution and assume that the cost function possesses some rather general features which are shared by the cost functions of the Nerlove-Arrow type models. The dynamic optimization problem is discussed in the calculus of variations framework. A few examples associated with special cost functions are discussed in detail.     

The existence of TU α-core in normal form games

This paper provides a TU α-core existence result in a large class of normal form games. In the oligopoly markets of a homogeneous good, the TU α-core is non-empty if all profit functions are continuous and concave. In a general game, the existence of TU α-core follows from the weak separability, the compactness and convexity of choice sets, and the concavity and continuity of payoff functions. Received: November 1997/final version: August 1998     

Equilibrium price as a coincidence point of two mappings

The existence of an equilibrium price vector in a nonlinear market model is analyzed. In the model, the demand and supply functions are obtained by maximizing the producer utility and profit, respectively. Sufficient conditions for the existence of an equilibrium price vector and its stability with respect to small perturbations in the model are given. The results are consequences of theorems on the existence and stability of coincidence points in the theory of α-covering mappings.     

Inventory and coordination issues with two substitutable products

This study considers a two level supply chain in a newsboy setting with two substitutable products. Demands for the two products are assumed independent as long as both are available. If, however, a product stocks out, some of its demand is transferred to the available one with a known probability which ultimately creates a dependence on the amount of purchased items. The retailer is allowed to return some or all of the unsold products to the manufacturer with some credit. The expected chain profit, the retailer’s and the manufacturer’s profit expressions are derived under general conditions. Special cases are inspected to investigate the conditions under which channel coordination is achieved. It is demonstrated that channel coordination can not be achieved if unlimited returns are allowed with full credit, a result that agrees with the findings of Pasternak [B.A. Pasternack, Optimal pricing and return policies for perishable commodities, Market. Sci. 4 (1985) 166–176] for the single item case. For the cases of unlimited returns with partial credit, the conditions for coordination are derived for one way full substitutions. For exponential demand explicit expressions for the channel and retailer’s expected profit functions are provided.     

The structure of utility functions ensuring the existence of an exact potential in a strategic game

Strategic games in which the profit of each participant is the sum of local profits gained by means certain “objects” and shared by all players using these objects are considered. If each object satisfies a regularity condition, then the game has an exact potential. Both universal classes of potential games considered previously in the literature, overflow games and games with structured utility functions, are contained in the class under consideration and satisfy the regularity condition.     

Effect of declining selling price: profit analysis for a single period inventory model with stochastic demand and lead time

In this paper, considering the empirical trend for sales and price of fashion apparels as prototype, optimal ordering policy for a single period stochastic inventory model is investigated. The impact of the presence of random lead time and declining selling price on the profitability of the retailer is explored. Existence of unique optimal solutions for net profit functions is proved. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the method of identifying profitable levels of inventory holding and penalty costs. Percentage profit per unit investment in inventory is obtained in order to assist managers in taking business decisions, specifically to the extent of whether or not to take up a particular business under known constraints. It is demonstrated that the optimal inventory policy in the absence of price decline and lead time differs considerably from that when lead time and price decline are simultaneously considered.     

Manufacturer's pricing strategies in a single-period framework under price-dependent stochastic demand with asymmetric risk-preference information

This paper considers a single-period problem designed to analyse the pricing strategy of a manufacturer who does not possess full information about the retailer's risk-preferences. The retailer, who faces a price-dependent stochastic demand, is a maximizer of the risk-adjusted expected profit, rather than of the expected profit. The paper first evaluates the implication of the various risk-preferences of the retailer on the manufacturer's policy under a full-information scenario. Then, it considers a partial information scenario and computes the expected value of perfect information. Finally, it assesses the impact on the manufacturer's profit of sharing the retailer's risk through the introduction of a buyback policy. Linear or iso-elastic demand functions and additive or multiplicative demand error structures capture the demand distributions. Analytical results as well as numerical examples illustrate the main features of the model.     

A two warehouse inventory model for a deteriorating item with partially/fully backlogged shortage and fuzzy lead time

An optimization inventory policy for a deteriorating item with imprecise lead-time, partially/fully backlogged shortages and price dependent demand is developed under two-warehouse system. For display and storage, the retailer hires one warehouse of finite capacity at market place, treated as own warehouse (OW) and another warehouse of large capacity as it may be required at a distance place from the market, treated as rented warehouse (RW). Holding cost at RW decreases with the increase of distance from the market place. Units are transferred from RW to OW in bulk release pattern and sold from OW. Using the nearest interval approximation method the estimated fuzzy average profit function is defuzzified and transformed to multiple crisp objective functions which are solved by Global Criteria Method. The models are illustrated numerically. Sensitivity of the inventory costs on the location of RW has been depicted graphically. Also loss in profit due to deteriorations for both models have been presented.     

绿色食品生产和消费的数量经济分析

本文从消费者效用出发 ,导出了绿色食品及同类一般食品的需求函数 ;从企业具有追求利润最大化的动机入手 ,分析了绿色食品价格对其生产的影响 ,得出了绿色食品生存必须具有的最低价格 ;给出了使绿色食品及同类一般食品产销尽可能均衡的线性规划模型 ;提出了发展绿色食品的若干建议措施