基于多Agent的在线多属性采购拍卖的机制设计

对目前网络拍卖进行研究发现,在线多属性采购拍卖的实施水平仍处在基础的信息发布阶段.基于委托代理模型的参与约束和激励相容约束,通过改进多属性决策的一般方法,提出一种以释放权重信息为核心的在线多属性采购拍卖设计机制.拍卖设计的第一阶段融入谈判机制以协商拍卖的属性规则,确定多维拍卖的属性选择;第二阶段通过投标人提供的属性赋值和权重设置确定赢者的胜出.为开发实际的在线网络采购或供应链管理平台.进一步提出基于多Agent系统的多属性采购拍卖的技术实现框架.通过一个简单的二维属性拍卖的例证分析,说明该机制可以增进拍卖双方信息的正向交互,实现拍卖机制的最优,并可以通过多Agent系统提高在线拍卖的效率.     

拍卖理论的最新进展——多属性网上拍卖研究

作为一种古老的价格发现机制,拍卖作为一种理论被学者研究的时间并不长,但这种古老的机制却在网络的大潮中发挥了它的用武之地.电子商务的发展给了拍卖以勃勃生机,网上拍卖迅速成为了一种非常活跃的商务模式.但是网上拍卖理论相对匮乏,特别是网上拍卖模型的设计非常少.本文将首先对拍卖理论进行综述,然后给出一个网上拍卖的一般模型,提出一种模糊环境下的多属性网上拍卖机制,最后展望该领域的研究前景.     

多部件采购外包的两阶段均衡投标策略

本文考虑一个由单个制造商和多个供应商群体组成的供应链——该制造商需要采购多个部件,对于每个部件在市场上均存在多个供应商。不同于传统的从各供应商群体分别采购各个部件,制造商考虑将所有部件的采购整体外包给某个供应商。在第一阶段,制造商使用一级价格密封投标的逆向拍卖来确定赢得整体采购合约的供应商。接下来,第一阶段投标的获胜者生产其所能供应的部件,并使用逆向拍卖向第一阶段中未获胜的其他竞标者采购其余部件。我们分析了供应商在两个阶段的均衡竞价策略,并比较了制造商在亲自逐件采购和外包整体采购两种情况下的期望采购成本。我们证明了在两种机制下制造商的总的期望采购成本相等。     

带保修期的寿命型产品多属性招标采购机制设计——以大型医疗设备为例

产品的期望寿命是重要的质量属性之一,事前不可观察且不可验证,直接对该质量属性进行投标没有意义。针对此问题,以大型寿命型医疗设备招标采购为例,利用拍卖机制设计理论建立了一类具有信号传递功能的多属性招标采购模型。模型确定了最优投标规则,包括设备最优期望寿命投标、最优保修期投标与最优价格支付。模型确立了甄别投标企业技术类型与传递产品质量可靠性信息的机制。研究结果表明:首先该机制满足参与约束与激励相容约束,投标企业分别按自身期望利润最大化进行投标;其次该最优机制能保证企业承诺的保修期与期望寿命正相关,能保证技术类型最高、所提供产品期望寿命最大(保修期最长)的企业中标,并且中标企业创造相对来说最高的社会福利。构造一个算例说明新的多属性招标采购机制在实践中易于操作,是可实施的。当质量指标存在不可观察和不可验证的维度时,相关研究为解决多属性招标采购问题提供了一个新思路。     

基于幂效用函数的多属性英式拍卖研究

以采购问题为背景研究多属性拍卖问题,其中拍卖问题的特点是：（1）包含任意有限个属性;（2）买卖双方的效用函数均具有加性结构,且在除价格以外的单个属性上,买方的效用函数和卖方的成本函数均为一般幂函数形式。首先,设计了一种买方事先公布评分函数而卖方轮流提交投标的多属性英式拍卖机制;其次,在卖方对称的假设下分析了拍卖机制中的最优投标策略,确定了最优投标价格和最优非价格属性值;然后,分析得出了最具成本优势的卖方最终胜出的条件以及最优多属性投标;最后,计算了该拍卖机制中买方的期望收益,并求出了使其期望收益最大化的最优评分函数权重。     

多属性采购拍卖的价值函数与打分规则

在多属性采购中,采购方不仅关心交易价格,更加关注供应商的交货时间和提供的装备质量对其价值的影响。为综合评价供应商的投标,采购方在采购拍卖开始时宣布一个打分规则。本文根据装备采购实践建立多属性采购拍卖的价值函数,以此为基础构建集成了质量属性、提前期属性和价格的三元打分规则。     

具有高投标成本的多属性逆向拍卖博弈模型

越来越多像GE这样的大型企业在利用多属性逆向拍卖选择新的供应商采购产品时,通常会设定较高的固定投标成本。针对此情况,建立了三阶段的非合作博弈模型,并利用求解子博弈纳什均衡策略的方法,推导出了供应商的最优投标价格。并得到以下两个主要结论:一是供应商的最优投标策略是按照生产产品真实的质量和交货期进行投标,且投标价格为最优投标价格;二是采购商的最优策略是选择投标价格最高的供应商作为拍卖获胜者,这一违反直觉的结论。这是合理的,因为投标价格最高的供应商也是类型最优的供应商,也即投标质量和投标交货期组合最优的供应商。最后,利用数值实验验证了模型的有效性,并显示出设定相对较高的固定投标成本对采购商来说是有利的。     

基于多属性逆向拍卖的博弈分析

对只有一个采购商和多个供应商之间进行的单轮多属性逆向拍卖建立了非合作博弈模型,分析得出投标具有最高质量和最短交货期属性的供应商能够获得最大利润,同时能够给采购商带来最大剩余.因此采购商并不会根据最低投标价格,而是根据投标质量和交货期的最优组合来选择新的供应商.然后,把投标价格看作投标质量和交货期的函数,推导出了供应商的最优投标价格策略,并进一步推出纯子博弈纳什均衡策略.最后,通过算例验证了模型的有效性,并指出采购商在利用多属性逆向拍卖进行采购之前,应该对供应商资格进行审核来决定最后能够参与到拍卖中的供应商数目.     

层次交互式多属性电子拍卖中标人选择方法

供应商选择问题是学术界和工业界十分关注的优化决策问题,随着知识和信息的快速增长,电子商务环境日趋复杂,采供双方均要求增加交互以实现信息共享.多属性电子拍卖是一种有效的采购机制,为解决多属性电子拍卖中标人选择问题,提出层次交互式协同群决策方法,该方法基于属性重要度设置权重,依据属性权重分层,采购方与众投标供应商分层递推交互,协同进化群体决策;建立决策模型,设计了算法,并通过实例说明该方法的合理性和有效性.     

网上拍卖销售与逆向拍卖采购下的库存管理

以电子商务为背景研究网上拍卖销售与逆向拍卖采购下的库存管理。在该问题中,零售商一方面利用网上拍卖销售产品,另一方面利用逆向拍卖进行采购。对于单阶段情形,证明网上拍卖下零售商的期望收益函数是采购量的严格递增的凹函数,从而得到零售商的最优采购策略和供应商的最优投标策略。对于多阶段情形,利用马尔可夫决策过程理论建立该问题的最优控制模型,得到零售商的最优采购策略和供应商的贝叶斯-纳什均衡投标策略均与基本库存策略相类似。     

IT服务外包项目工期与费用控制的 多属性英氏逆拍卖机制

工期和费用是影响IT服务外包项目成败的两个重要因素,且两者之间呈负相关的关系。在IT服务外包项目执行前,发包方与接包方需要就项目的工期和费用达成一致。通常,发包方并不完全了解外包项目的市场行情,在这种情况下,就需要一种有效的方式使发包方和接包方之间就工期和费用达成一致。本文设计了改进的英氏逆拍卖机制,针对一对多的情况设计了新的拍卖协议;针对工期和费用的多属性情况,引入多属性效用理论解决,设计了相应的效用增加函数。最后通过一个算例来演示所设计的拍卖机制对解决此类决策问题的作用。得出一些结论:所设计机制能够以拍卖方式描述费用和工期管理流程;找到了发包方和接包方的最佳增量效用,并且建议的拍卖协议是发包方和接包方获得双赢结果的机制;从不同大小的案例中可以得到完全一致的结果,这表明设计的拍卖机制的有效性和效用增加函数对协商结果的有效性。     

An Analysis of Scoring and Buyer‐Determined Procurement Auctions

In procurement auctions, the object for sale is a contract, bidders are suppliers, and the bid taker is a buyer. The suppliers bidding for the contract are usually the current supplier (the incumbent) and a group of potential new suppliers (the entrants). As the buyer has an ongoing relationship with the incumbent, he needs to adjust the bids of the entrants to include non‐price attributes, such as the switching costs. The buyer can run a scoring auction, in which suppliers compete on the adjusted bids or scores, or, he can run a buyer‐determined auction, in which suppliers compete on the price, and the buyer adjusts a certain number of the bids with the non‐price attributes after the auction to determine the winner. Unless the incumbent has a significant cost advantage over the entrants, I find that the scoring auction yields a lower average cost for the buyer, if the non‐price attributes are available. If the non‐price attributes are difficult or expensive to obtain, the buyer could run a buyer‐determined auction adjusting only the lowest price bid.     

Increasing Revenue by Decreasing Information in Procurement Auctions

We report on results of several laboratory experiments that investigate on‐line procurement auctions in which suppliers bid on price, but exogenous bidder quality affects winner determination. In procurement auctions, bidder quality may or may not be publicly known to all bidders, and the effect of this quality transparency on the auction outcome is one aspect of auction design that we examine. The second aspect of auction design that we examine is the effect of price visibility on the auction outcome, and the interaction between price visibility and quality transparency. In terms of price visibility, we consider two extreme cases: the sealed bid request for proposals (RFPs), and the open‐bid dynamic auction event. In terms of bidder quality transparency, we also consider two extreme cases: a setting in which bidder qualities are publicly known and the case in which they are private. We find that in our laboratory experiments, the RFP format is consistent in generating higher buyer surplus levels than does the open‐bid dynamic format. This advantage is independent of the quality transparency. In contrast, the open‐bid format is highly sensitive to quality transparency, generating significantly lower buyer surplus levels when the information about bidder quality is public.     

A Framework for Estimating Benefits of Using Auctions in Revenue Management*

We develop a stochastic model to explore the benefits of incorporating auctions in revenue management. To the best of our knowledge the extant literature on modeling in revenue management has not considered auctions. We consider three models, namely, a traditional fixed price (non‐auction) model, a pure auction model, and a hybrid auction model and evaluate their revenue performance under a variety of conditions. The hybrid approach outperforms the other two in all 24 scenarios and yields an average revenue increase of 16.1% over the next best. A surprise finding is that there is no significant difference between the performance of the fixed price and pure auction approaches. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the relative superiority of the hybrid revenue management strategy is reasonably robust.     

Split‐Award Procurement Auctions—Can Bayesian Equilibrium Strategies Predict Human Bidding Behavior in Multi‐Object Auctions?

We analyze if and when symmetric Bayes Nash equilibrium predictions can explain human bidding behavior in multi‐object auctions. We focus on two sealed‐bid split‐award auctions with ex ante split decisions as they can be regularly found in procurement practice. These auction formats are straightforward multi‐object extensions of the first‐price sealed‐bid auction. We derive the risk‐neutral symmetric Bayes Nash equilibrium strategies and find that, although the two auction mechanisms yield the same expected costs to the buyer, other aspects of the two models, including the equilibrium bidding strategies, differ significantly. The strategic considerations in these auction formats are more involved than in single‐lot first‐price sealed‐bid auctions, and it is questionable whether expected utility maximization can explain human bidding behavior in such multi‐object auctions. Therefore, we analyzed the predictive accuracy of our equilibrium strategies in the laboratory. In human subject experiments we found underbidding, which is in line with earlier experiments on single‐lot first‐price sealed‐bid auctions. To control for regret, we organize experiments against computerized bidders, who play the equilibrium strategy. In computerized experiments where bid functions are only used in a single auction, we found significant underbidding on low‐cost draws. In experiments where the bid function is reused in 100 auctions, we could also control effectively for risk aversion, and there is no significant difference of the average bidding behavior and the risk‐neutral Bayes Nash equilibrium bid function. The results suggest that strategic complexity does not serve as an explanation for underbidding in split‐award procurement auctions, but risk aversion does have a significant impact.     

带佣金率和保留价的一级和二级价格拍卖

本文通过引入佣金率和保留价,分别讨论了一级和二级价格密封式拍卖,得到以下结论:(1)两种密封式拍卖的均衡报价随佣金率的提高而减少;(2)一级价格密封式拍卖的均衡报价随保留价的增加而增加,而二级价格密封式拍卖的均衡报价随保留价的增加而减少;(3)一级价格密封式拍卖的投标者预期收益与佣金率和保留价均呈反向变动,而二级价格密封式拍卖的投标者预期收益独立于佣金率和保留价;(4)收益等价定理仍然成立;(5)在两种密封式拍卖中,当佣金率增加时,卖方的预期收益减少,拍卖行的预期收益以及卖方和拍卖行的总预期收益可能增加也可能减少;(6)在两种密封式拍卖中,当保留价增加时,卖方的预期收益、拍卖行的预期收益以及卖方和拍卖行的总预期收益可能增加也可能减少;(7)给出了卖方的最优保留价的表达式;(8)把本文的结论与以前相应的研究工作做了比较。     

The Affiliation Effect in First‐Price Auctions

We study the monotonicity of the equilibrium bid with respect to the number of bidders n in affiliated private‐value models of first‐price sealed‐bid auctions and prove the existence of a large class of such models in which the equilibrium bid function is not increasing in n. We moreover decompose the effect of a change in n on the bid level into a competition effect and an affiliation effect. The latter suggests to the winner of the auction that competition is less intense than she had thought before the auction. Since the affiliation effect can occur in both private‐ and common‐value models, a negative relationship between the bid level and n does not allow one to distinguish between the two models and is also not necessarily (only) due to bidders taking account of the winner's curse.