Dynamic pricing under first order Markovian competition

We evaluate the effect of competition on prices, profits, and consumers' surplus in multiperiod, finite horizon, dynamic pricing settings. In our base model, a single myopic consumer visits two competing retailers, who offer identical goods, in a (first order Markovian) probabilistic fashion—if the posted price exceeds the consumer's valuation for the good, he returns to the same store in the following period with a certain probability. We find that even a small reduction in the return probability from one—which corresponds to the monopoly case at which prices decline linearly—is sufficient to revert the price decline from a linear into an exponential shape. Each retailer's profit is particularly sensitive to changes in his return probability when it is relatively high, and is maximized under complete loyalty behavior (i.e., return probability is one). On the other hand, consumer surplus is maximized under complete switching behavior (i.e., return probability is zero). In the presence of many similar consumers, the insights remain valid. We further focus on the extreme scenario where all consumers follow a complete switching behavior, to derive sharp bounds, and also consider the instance where, in this setting, myopic consumers are replaced with strategic consumers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

Alleviating time inconsistent behaviors via a competition scheme

Under quasi‐hyperbolic discounting, the valuation of a payoff falls relatively rapidly for earlier delay periods, but then falls more slowly for longer delay periods. When the salespersons with quasi‐hyperbolic discounting consider the product sale problem, they would exert less effort than their early plan, thus resulting in losses of future profit. We propose a winner‐takes‐all competition to alleviate the above time inconsistent behaviors of the salespersons, and allow the company to maximize its revenue by choosing an optimal bonus. To evaluate the effects of the competition scheme, we define the group time inconsistency degree of the salespersons, which measures the consequence of time inconsistent behaviors, and two welfare measures, the group welfare of the salespersons and the company revenue. We show that the competition always improves the group welfare and the company revenue as long as the company chooses to run the competition in the first place. However, the effect on group time inconsistency degree is mixed. When the optimal bonus is moderate (extreme high), the competition motivates (over‐motivates) the salesperson to work hard, thus alleviates (worsens) the time inconsistent behaviors. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 357–372, 2017     

Probabilistic resource pooling games

We study a setting with a single type of resource and with several players, each associated with a single resource (of this type). Unavailability of these resources comes unexpectedly and with player‐specific costs. Players can cooperate by reallocating the available resources to the ones that need the resources most and let those who suffer the least absorb all the costs. We address the cost savings allocation problem with concepts of cooperative game theory. In particular, we formulate a probabilistic resource pooling game and study them on various properties. We show that these games are not necessarily convex, do have non‐empty cores, and are totally balanced. The latter two are shown via an interesting relationship with Böhm‐Bawerk horse market games. Next, we present an intuitive class of allocation rules for which the resulting allocations are core members and study an allocation rule within this class of allocation rules with an appealing fairness property. Finally, we show that our results can be applied to a spare parts pooling situation.     

全面深化改革 实现我国社会主义市场经济地位的转变

党的十八届三中全会的最大亮点和理论创新之一就是,提出了要实现市场对资源配置的决定性作用。这是思想解放的重大突破,也是深化经济体制改革以及引领其他领域改革的基本方针。阐述了改革开放35年党对市场经济地位和作用认识的历史进程,以及我国社会主义市场经济地位转变的必然性,提出了全面深化经济体制改革、实现市场经济地位转变的举措。     

A multi‐stage stochastic programming approach for network capacity expansion with multiple sources of capacity

In networks, there are often more than one sources of capacity. The capacities can be permanently or temporarily owned by the decision maker. Depending on the nature of sources, we identify the permanent capacity, spot market capacity, and contract capacity. We use a scenario tree to model the uncertainty, and build a multi‐stage stochastic integer program that can incorporate multiple sources and multiple types of capacities in a general network. We propose two solution methodologies for the problem. Firstly, we design an asymptotically convergent approximation algorithm. Secondly, we design a cutting plane algorithm based on Benders decomposition to find tight bounds for the problem. The numerical experiments show superb performance of the proposed algorithms compared with commercial software. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 600–614, 2017     

Optimal operating policies in a commodity trading market with the manufacturer's presence

With the help of the Internet and express delivery at relatively low costs, trading markets have become increasingly popular as a venue to sell excess inventory and a source to obtain products at lower prices. In this article, we study the operational decisions in the presence of a trading market in a periodic‐review, finite‐horizon setting. Prices in the trading market change periodically and are determined endogenously by the demand and supply in the market. We characterize the retailers'optimal ordering and trading policies when the original manufacturer and the trading market co‐exist and retailers face fees to participate in the trading market. Comparing with the case with no trading fees, we obtain insights into the impact of trading fees and the fee structure on the retailers and the manufacturer. Further, we find that by continually staying in the market, the manufacturer may use her pricing strategies to counter‐balance the negative impact of the trading market on her profit. Finally, we extend the model to the case when retailers dynamically update their demand distribution based on demand observations in previous periods. A numerical study provides additional insights into the impact of demand updating in a trading market with the manufacturer's competition. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010     

对恐怖活动成因的深层透析

恐怖活动是困扰当今世界和平的大敌，其发生有许多表层或直接诱因。深入分析当今世界的经济体系和社会政治体制可以发现，一个国家或地区的经济发展不平衡、对社会资源的获取不平衡。是恐怖活动发生的深层根源。由此可见，根除恐怖活动的根本途径在于加强社会的和谐与协调发展。     

Supply chain coordination with shelf‐space and retail price dependent demand and heterogeneous retailers

We consider supply chain coordination in which a manufacturer supplies some product to multiple heterogeneous retailers and wishes to coordinate the supply chain via wholesale price and holding cost subsidy. The retail price is either exogenous or endogenous. The market demand is described by the market share attraction model based on all retailers'shelf‐spaces and retail prices. We obtain optimal solutions for the centralized supply chain, where the optimal retail pricing is a modified version of the well‐known cost plus pricing strategy. We further get feasible contracts for the manufacturer to coordinate the hybrid and decentralized supply chains. The manufacturer can allocate the total profit free to himself and the retail market via the wholesale price when the retail price is exogenous, but otherwise he cannot. Finally, we point out that different characteristics of the retail market are due to different powers of the manufacturer, and the more power the manufacturer has, the simpler the contract to coordinate the chain will be. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010     

中国超算技术赶超发展模式探析

超级计算是解决国家安全、经济建设、科学进步、社会发展和国防建设等领域重大挑战性问题的重要手段,是各国科技发展中必争的战略制高点。通过调查和实证,重点分析了中国超算技术追赶中政府的引导作用和企业作为市场主体的作用。面向领域的战略需求,在财政能力非常有限的情况下,政府通过长期资助,形成厚实的知识和人才队伍积累;面向科技创新,政府主导全国的集群创新实现中国超算登顶,并建设国家超算基础设施;面向全面发展,积极发展超算应用,并按照企业是市场主体的原则,通过企业参与超算竞争研制,实现技术溢出和市场突破。超算技术发展模式可以为其他高技术领域发展提供借鉴经验。     

未来30年太空安全发展趋势及影响

“太空安全战略”专题编者按 组稿专家：杨乐平（国防科技大学空天科学学院教授、博士生导师） 近年来,以美国重建太空司令部与天军独立为标志,国际太空领域战略竞争与军事对抗日益加剧,太空前所未有地应用于军事与安全,太空安全也受到了前所未有的挑战。为了解未来太空安全发展和主要国家太空安全战略动向,深化太空安全战略研究,《国防科技》编辑部于2021年6月启动“太空安全战略”专题征文活动,国内相关学者积极投稿,经专家遴选,本期发表入选稿件6篇。来稿内容涵盖未来30年太空安全发展预测、美国太空安全最新发展、俄罗斯太空安全政策、欧盟太空安全政策、日本太空安全战略以及印度太空力量发展等主题,较为全面地反映了当前国际太空安全领域的最新发展与战略动向。从长远看,随着地球以外人类活动的增加、太空新经济蓬勃发展和太空创造财富规模不断扩大,水平大幅提升,太空将超越陆、海、空成为国家安全最重要的领域。从这个意义上讲,太空安全战略研究学术价值与影响较大,值得高度关注。