Multi-attribute utility methods in group decision making: Past applications and potential for inclusion in GDSS

This paper reviews a variety of studies in which multi-attribute utility theory (MAU) has been used successfully to aid group decision processes and discusses the incorporation of MAU in Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS). GDSS of various levels of automation have been proposed to aid group decision making. A number of commercial GDSSs are available which are capable of aiding generation of alternatives, their evaluation, and selection. Many authors have promoted the incorporation of quantitative decision making models in GDSS. The most appropriate quantitative tool for GDSS is MAU, but MAU has rarely been utilized. The cases reviewed illustrate that the use of MAU techniques is not prohibitively difficult or complex.     

The value of information in anticipated utility theory

A well-known property of expected utility theory is that the value of information is nonnegative. Given the widespread dissatisfaction with the expected utility hypothesis, a natural question to ask is whether competing theories of choice preserve this property. This article considers one widely discussed alternative to expected utility, anticipated utility theory. We show that, like expected utility, the anticipated value of perfect information is always nonnegative. The value of imperfect information, however, may be negative, though the precise valuation of information depends upon whether the reduction of compound lotteries axiom is used to derive the anticipated utility functional.I am indebted to Edi Karni, Peter Wakker, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. They are of course in no way responsible for errors or obscurities in the present version.     

Quality Provision with Heterogeneous Consumer Reservation Utilities

This study examines a firm's quality and price decisions when consumers differ not only in their willingness‐to‐pay for quality but also in their reservation utility for the basic product. We find that while the firm offers lower‐quality products when consumers' valuations for quality deteriorate, the optimal quality may increase with a negative shift in consumers' reservation utilities. We also investigate the optimal price and quality of the products within a vertically differentiated product line when the number of products is exogenously given. The existing literature shows that when consumers differ only in their willingness‐to‐pay for quality, the firm sets the efficient quality for consumers with the highest valuation for quality, whereas the concern for cannibalization pushes down the quality of inferior products. We find that when consumers are heterogeneous in both their reservation utility and valuation for quality, the concern for cannibalization may distort the quality upwards, even for consumers with the highest willingness‐to‐pay for quality. In addition, a low‐quality product may enjoy a higher profit margin than a high‐quality product within the product line.     

Competition and Coordination in Two‐Tier Public Service Systems under Government Fiscal Policy

As a result of government budgetary limits and rapid market growth, many public service systems—such as health care—are characterized by extensive customer wait times that have become a serious problem. This problem might be solved by allowing private firms to enter these markets, which would provide customers with a choice between a free (governmental) public service provider (SP) and a fee‐charging (or “toll”) private SP. In such a two‐tier service system, the two SPs are differentiated by service quality and cost efficiency. This study focuses on the competition and coordination issues for two‐tier service systems with customers who are sensitive to both service quality and delay. The free system attempts to maximize its expected total customer utility with limited capacity, whereas the toll system attempts to maximize its profit. Neither goal is aligned with the social welfare goal of the public service. To achieve the social welfare goal, the government plays a crucial role in coordinating the two‐tier service system via the budget, the tradeoff of social members' goals, and tax‐subsidy policies. Using a mixed duopoly game, we establish Nash equilibrium strategies and identify the conditions for the existence of the two‐tier service system. We employ several interesting and counter‐intuitive managerial insights generated by the model to show that the public service can be delivered more efficiently via customer choice and SP competition. In addition, we show that a relatively low tax‐subsidy rate can almost perfectly coordinate the two SPs to achieve most of the maximum possible benefit of the two‐tier service system.     

核事故早期应急群决策模型研究

有效快速的核事故早期应急决策,是核电站发生核事故后最后一道必要的屏障,因此决策的快速性与有效性至关重要。文章先构造效用函数,求出决策者的乐观系数,将决策判断矩阵中的区间值与模糊值精确化;在此基础上建立了个体与群体的决策模型,以提高决策的有效性。同时根据排序结果,构造群体与个体之间一致性判断矩阵,并根据判断矩阵进行交互与修改,使专家内部快速达成一致。最后通过算例说明方法的可行性。     

农户金融需求行为及其影响因素的实证研究

随着改革开放的发展和农民生活水平的提高,农户对金融的需求愈加强烈。基于沈阳周边农户的300份调查问卷,运用世代交叠模型模拟农户经济行为,建立二元Logit模型,对影响沈阳农户金融需求效用的因素进行实证分析。指出农户的家庭收入、经营状况、固定资产、土地、贷款金额和城镇经济状况等因素都对农户金融需求效用存在显著影响,并提出了促进沈阳周边农村金融发展的政策建议,旨为沈阳地区农村经济发展提供借鉴。     

战备物资合同储备合谋防范策略研究

战备物资委托企业合同储备过程中存在多重委托代理关系,结合博弈理论,分析军方-军代表-代储企业三方损益,考虑合谋惩罚因素和名誉损失惩罚因素。在分析合谋形成条件的基础上,建立战备物资合同储备预防合谋机制模型,得出混合战略均衡解,模型的均衡解反映了代储企业与军代表选择违规获取合谋收益的最佳概率,以及军方监管机构选择监督的均衡概率,得出监管力度和监管成本的合理组合,实现监管效益最大化。通过实例仿真讨论模型在不同参数下的合谋条件,识别合谋监管的关键变量,为完善战备物资合同储备监管机制提供参考。     

利益相关者管理——新经济下的机会与挑战

"股东至上主义"是盎格努--萨克逊体系公司治理模式的核心,但是它却忽视了相关者的利益要求,从而给企业带来了一系列的管理悖论.而在知识化、信息化为主要特征的新经济条件下,利益相关者的参与同合作情况对企业的经营成败有着至关重要的影响作用.于是,利益相关者管理逐渐受到了理论与实践上的重视.虽然通过利益相关者管理可以实现企业长期价值的提高,促进企业可持续发展等,但在实际操作过程中还存在许多需要进一步明确的问题.     

简论王国维美学的现代性

站在近代这样的时代峰颠上 ,王国维作为近代著名的学者 ,在他的学术中已经透露出了现代的气息。在美学思想上 ,王国维一反中国传统的“功用”主义思想观 ,提出了他著名的“非功利”美学观念。在王国维看来 ,艺术是超功利的 ,具有其独立的价值和地位。这无疑提高了艺术的地位 ,为日后中国建立独立的艺术精神提供了先验 ;在美学术语上 ,王国维由传统术语经由阐释而转为现代性和由西方引入美学术语这两条途径 ,提出大量的现代美学术语 ,并且在他的文章中加以应用 ,这不能不说是现代性的一个表现。总之 ,王国维为中国美学的现代化作出了卓越的贡献 ,值得后人加以借鉴和研究。     

Eliciting decision weights by adapting de Finetti’s betting-odds method to prospect theory

This paper extends de Finetti’s betting-odds method for assessing subjective beliefs to ambiguous events. Thus, a tractable manner for measuring decision weights under ambiguity is obtained. De Finetti’s method is so transparent that decision makers can evaluate the relevant tradeoffs in complex situations. The resulting data can easily be analyzed, using nonparametric techniques. Our extension is implemented in an experiment on predicting next-day’s performance of the Dow Jones and Nikkei stock indexes, where we test the existence and nature of rank dependence, finding usual patterns. We also find violations of rank dependence.