We present a revenue optimization algorithm for posted-price auctions when facing a buyer with random valuations who seeks to optimize his -discounted surplus. In order to analyze this problem we introduce the notion of ✏-strategic buyer, a more natural notion of strategic behavior than what has been considered in the past. We improve upon the previous state-of-the-art and achieve an optimal re...

Spectrum is a valuable, scarce and finite natural resource that is needed for many different applications, so efficient use of the scarce radio spectrum is important for accommodating the rapid growth of wireless communications. Spectrum auctions are one of the best-known market-based solutions to improve the efficiency of spectrum use. However, Spectrum auctions are fundamentally differen...

This paper introduces the theoretical and conceptual basis for an empirical study. It focuses on how virtual stores (accessible through the internet or CD) need to be designed for influencing wine buyer (purchase) behavior most favorably. The project includes the development and empirical evaluation of a model based on past research on consumer behavior and environmental psychology in real stores.

We study the optimal mechanism design problem faced by a market intermediary who makes revenue by connecting buyers and sellers. We first show that the optimal intermediation protocol has substantial structure: it is the solution to an algorithmic pricing problem in which seller’s costs are replaced with virtual costs, and the sellers’ payments need only depend on the buyer’s behavior and not t...

We study the effectiveness of a procurement mechanism of a buyer that bundles the product procurement with the technology acquisition. We analyze the bidding behavior of rational suppliers and predict the outcome of such a bundling strategy. Using the two-supplier case, we find that each supplier has a dominant bidding strategy for the technology provision that is independent from the bidding s...

While there is an ever increasing adoption of e-sourcing, where the buyer auctions procurement contracts to a small group of pre-qualified suppliers, a critical question to its sustainability remains: Does it damage long-term buyer-supplier relationships? We explore this question by developing a conceptual model of non-price attributes, bidding behavior and auction outcome. We examine in detail...

This article reviews literature on competitiveness of agricultural product and input markets. Although researchers in the United States and Europe emphasize different stages of the agricultural and food marketing system, their focus is similar: extent of buyer power, although both have largely ignored the sector supplying inputs to agriculture. The key conclusion is that there is little robust ...

We explain what reputation effects are, how they arise and the factors that limit or strengthen them. In a dynamic setting signals sent now may affect the current and future behavior of other players, thus signals can have effects unrelated to their current costs and benefits. It is the interplay between signals and their long run consequences that is studied in the literature on reputation. Th...