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This paper deals with a class of optimal control problems which arises in advertising models with Volterra Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process representing the product goodwill. Such choice of the model can be regarded as a stochastic modification of the classical Nerlove-Arrow model that allows to incorporate both presence of uncertainty and empirically observed memory effects such as carryover or distributed forgetting. We present an approach to solve such optimal control problems based on an infinite dimensional lift which allows us to recover Markov properties by formulating an optimization problem equivalent to the original one in a Hilbert space. Such technique, however, requires the Volterra kernel from the forward equation to have a representation of a particular form that may be challenging to obtain in practice. We overcome this issue for Hölder continuous kernels by approximating them with Bernstein polynomials, which turn out to enjoy a simple representation of the required type. Then we solve the optimal control problem for the forward process with approximated kernel instead of the original one and study convergence. The approach is illustrated with simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rapidly evolving live broadcast economy, Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are reshaping e-commerce by promoting products in real-time. Our study investigates this phenomenon using a sophisticated model of user interaction and behavior guidance among KOLs. By proposing a multichannel decision-making model that includes KOLs, brands, and traditional retailers, we aim to understand the dynamics of profit-driven decisions and their impacts. Analyzing data from 25 KOL anchors, we find a notable trend. Despite positive skewness in daily sales and conversion rates, there’s a range of fluctuation (0 to 13) that hints at diminishing returns from KOL live broadcasts, ultimately affecting the effectiveness of influencing consumer behavior.

This study addresses the challenge of variable selection in partially linear additive spatial autoregressive models through a novel approach that leverages orthogonal projection based on the QR decomposition technique. This method ensures the validity and compatibility of examining the influence of e-commerce on rural high-quality development while minimizing bias in spatial spillover benefits analysis. By constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system, the research applies a partially linear weighted spatial autoregressive model with orthogonal projection to assess e-commerce’s impact on rural development. Analysis of baseline regression for selected villages, supplemented by heterogeneity tests, threshold effects, and spatial analyses, reveals a significant relationship: a one-unit increase in e-commerce activity corresponds to a 0.0038 unit increase in high-quality rural development. This growth comprises both a direct effect of 0.0011 units and a spillover effect of 0.0027 units, highlighting e-commerce’s pivotal role in promoting rural prosperity and its beneficial spillover to adjacent areas.

Marketing capability is a vital resource capability, this paper first utilizes the gradient descent algorithm to calculate the matrix decomposition problem and mine the relevant data of marketing capability. Then combined with the ANP algorithm, it solves the problem of the SWOT algorithm being unquantifiable. It constructs a SWOT-ANP strategy analysis model, and empirically examines the influence of enterprise strategy and performance. The model is applied to the enterprise’s marketing capability, with performance relationship as the target layer, SWOT as the criterion layer, and the weight values of 15 influencing factors are calculated through the network hierarchy. The weight of the opportunity layer in the local weight is higher than that of the disadvantage layer, which leads to the influence of sub-influence factors, and the highest weight of the disadvantage influence factor is 0.04388 lower than the lowest influence factor of opportunity. Combining with the factor intensity score value, the integrated performance influence of O, T, S, and W is calculated to be 8.438, 6.00747, 7.42637, and 7.69062, respectively, and the sample is obtained through the strategy positioning The development strategy of the enterprise is S-T strategy.

The rural revitalization strategy is underway and can provide the promotion of high-quality growing rural e-commerce as well as supply the facilities and industrial support required for its growth. The complete score of the rural e-commerce development level was assessed using the entropy value technique by analyzing data from 31 Chinese provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. The efficiency of rural e-commerce growth was evaluated using the BCC model and the super-efficient DEA model within the DEA model. The study examined the effects of rural revival on the effectiveness of electronic commerce in rural development. Both input and output views were considered when selecting the related factors. After that, the productivity value was examined by merging information on the growth of rural e-commerce between 2016 and 2020. The research indicates that between 2015 and 2022, the comprehensive score of rural e-commerce growth experienced a high-quality increase of 173.50%. Furthermore, 8 out of 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous areas had DEA-achieved e-commerce development efficiency, with a mean complete efficiency score of 0.700. However, the mean value of total efficiency decreased by 35.29% when the progress level of rural rejuvenation was eliminated. Apart from providing support for infrastructure construction, rural revitalization can also provide policy assurances and an industrial base for the expansion of rural electronic commerce.

The traditional Japanese language teaching method is challenging to mobilize students’ enthusiasm, and it is impossible to objectively understand students’ mastery of knowledge points. To address this teaching problem, this paper combines the CRS model with K-Means cluster analysis to construct a precise teaching model for teaching Japanese language in colleges and universities based on the CRS model. Through the CRS model to obtain the students’ mastery of knowledge and differentiated data, the K-Means algorithm is used to analyze the teaching model accurately, so Japanese teachers can make timely adjustments to the classroom teaching situation and improve the quality of teaching. After the model design was completed, a controlled teaching experiment was conducted in two colleges and universities in a province, and an independent square root t-test was performed. The ratio of teachers’ verbal behavior in the experimental class of Japanese language in colleges and universities was 71.58%, which was 18.86% lower than the ratio of teachers’ verbal behavior in the classroom of the control case, and the ratio of students’ verbal behavior was 21.58%, which was 18.36% higher. The average probability of students’ mastery of the Japanese language points studied in the semester was above 0.6. The independent square root t-test for the two classes was less than 0.05, showing a significant difference.

This paper focuses on using blockchain technology for the digital transformation of enterprise financial accounting management to improve the security and reliability of data management. This paper makes a comparative analysis of PBFT algorithm and RPBFT algorithm, and uses blockchain technology to store data and monitor each node dynamically. The effect of financial management after digital transformation is remarkable. Taking Company A as an example, its operating profit margin increased from 12.13% to 26.0%, an increase of 13.87%. In terms of financial performance, the expenditure of Enterprise A between 2021 and 2022 increased from 15 billion yuan to 17.21 billion yuan. In addition, in terms of the management expense rate, the operating income of enterprise A in 2022 reached 185.828 billion yuan, which decreased by 0.74% compared with the expense rate 2020. The digital transformation strategy not only creates higher value for the enterprise, but also realizes the interconnection and sharing of data. This strategy has important practical significance to guide enterprises in the digital era of financial accounting management, which helps enterprises to maintain advantages in the fierce market competition, while ensuring data security and efficient management.

This study explores the innovative reform path of the comprehensive teaching model of course civics in the context of technological empowerment with multi-cluster structural model. Fang this paper takes S city colleges and universities as an example, based on the theory of planned behavior, it establishes the evaluation index system of influencing factors. Using DEMATEL method to process the scoring data of 15 experts, the influence matrix between the factors was shown, and the fundamental values such as influence degree and influenced degree were calculated. These key factors were then validated using factor analysis and multi-cluster structural modeling. The study results show that the improvement of teaching methods significantly impacts the teaching effect, in which the centrality of “global awareness” is the highest at 10.188. To improve the teaching effect, colleges and universities need to prioritize improving teaching methods, especially the strengthening of the cultivation of global awareness, and combine with the means of scientific and technological empowerment, to carry out the innovation of curriculum Civic and Political Education.

As one of the core courses of the Business English major, “International Marketing English” integrates business marketing teaching and linguistic teaching, demonstrating interdisciplinary characteristics. At the same time, the course teaching presents a strong inclination to cater to talent cultivation needs of social and economic development, stressing the connection between theory and practice, which is facing strong teaching challenges. The integration of discipline teaching and practical social needs is emphasized in application-oriented teaching, which breaks away from the limitations of traditional teaching. It encourages the strategic advancement of the ‘International Marketing English program for business English majors. From the perspective of ecological education and scenario-based teaching theory, this paper explains the theoretical basis for application-oriented teaching in ‘International Marketing English’. It also proposes methods to promote application-oriented teaching in course teaching, including strengthening the integration of industrial development and talent cultivation, creating teaching scenarios, practicing on designated projects, and adopting diverse modes of evaluation.

Marketized allocation of factors is an important means to promote regional development, while the property rights system also has an important role in promoting regional development. In this paper, after constructing the index system of factor marketized allocation and rural property right legal system, respectively, taking 16 villages in X place as examples, the indexes are normalized, and the entropy method is used to measure the development level of the two over time. Combining the grey correlation analysis method can solve the correlation between factor marketized allocation and rural property rights legal system after completing the measurement. The study shows that the levels of factor marketization allocation and the development level of the property rights system are not high in place X from 2015 to 2020, with most of them located below 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. The mean level of the property rights system fluctuated greatly from 2015 to 2020, with the fastest growth rate of 12.38% in 2020. Overall, the factor of marketization allocation has the lowest correlation with the legal and political environment (0.69-0.79) and the highest correlation with property rights (0.72-0.90). The correlation between external capital acquisition and property rights is the highest (0.843), while the correlation between labor output and intellectual property rights is the lowest (0.693). By optimizing the legal system of property rights, it is possible to promote the development level of regional factor market allocation, according to this study.

The country’s low-carbon policy makes the new energy industry vigorously promoted, and at the same time, the addition of artificial intelligence technology also makes the new energy and traditional fuel vehicles pull apart. This paper decomposes the influencing factors of transportation carbon emission by measuring the energy saving and emission reduction of transportation of new energy vehicles, using the extended Kaya constant equation of transportation carbon emission and the generalized Fisher index method. From the government subsidies and tax incentives in low carbon policies, the impact of policies on the performance of new energy vehicle enterprises is explored by analyzing the empirical regression results. The results show that the correlation coefficients of financial subsidies and enterprise performance are 0.135, 0.09, and 0.081, and the correlation coefficients of tax preferences and enterprise performance are 0.075, 0.172, 0.08, respectively, which indicate that low-carbon policies have positive incentive effects on new energy vehicle marketing. This paper provides a reference for the related low-carbon policy incentive theory.

The advent of the era of artificial intelligence provides technical support for cross-border e-commerce marketing to break the traditional competitive model and make efforts to build an online shopping platform that can meet international sellers’ and consumers’ transactions at any time around the world. This paper constructs a cross-border e-commerce marketing strategy optimization model based on deep reinforcement learning and convolutional neural network under artificial intelligence technology and explores the optimization method of the cross-border e-commerce marketing strategy by verifying the accuracy of the model and mining and analyzing the example data of Company A’s cross-border e-commerce platform. From the data, the accuracy of the deep convolutional neural network model is 99.47%, the proportion of beauty and beauty, mother and child care, and medical and health products in the product marketing strategy is 79.92%, 71.48%, and 59.93%, respectively, and the proportion of search traffic of the top three keywords in the search channel marketing is 42.69%, 31.23%, and 22.65%, respectively, and the ranking of the bottom The average traffic search of the seven types of keywords is less than 10%. This also shows that the optimization of a cross-border e-commerce marketing strategy based on the deep convolutional neural network can clearly analyze the data in the current marketing strategy, guide how to optimize the marketing strategy based on the data, and then improve the economic benefits of cross-border e-commerce enterprises. Applying a deep convolutional neural network model in a cross-border e-commerce marketing strategy also provides a direction for the new development field of artificial intelligence technology, which is beneficial to the further development of artificial intelligence technology.

Studying regional differences in the market-based allocation of data factors can help promote the development of data factor markets in China. This paper establishes a market-based allocation framework for data factors and analyzes the economic characteristics and market-based classification of data factors to explain the market-based framework. On this basis, a data factor market-based allocation efficiency measurement model is established based on network DEA with additional intermediate inputs to calculate the stage and overall market-based allocation efficiency of 30 Chinese provinces and cities with available data from 2019 to 2020, while the Malmquist index reflecting the inter-period dynamic changes is analyzed. The measured average values of market-based allocation efficiency of data factors in 2020 in the eastern, central, and western regions of China are 0.714, 0.515, and 0.362, all exceeding the average value in 2019, and improving by 12.43%, 15.67%, and 17.38% year-on-year, respectively. The average value of market-based allocation efficiency of data factors in 2019~2020 is 0.80, and above in six provincial. There are 6 administrative districts. 19 provinces have a Malmquist index of market-based allocation of data elements greater than 1 in 2020, accounting for 63.37%. In the era of the digital economy, provinces should actively formulate high-standard data factor market cultivation and development plans to ensure that data factors become basic and strategic resources for each province, empowering high-quality economic development.

Offering time-locked free trials is a common strategy in the software industry. Pioneering studies have mainly focused on time-locked free trial strategies in monopoly markets, and acknowledged that an overall positive effect on consumers' WTP is a prerequisite for offering free trials. However, software markets are often competitive, and consumers typically follow a Bayesian learning principle. We develop a game-theoretic model to examine time-locked free trial strategies in duopoly markets with switching costs. The results show that, in the markets with small switching costs, firms pursue opposite free trial strategies when the horizontal difference between products is small, and neither offers otherwise. If the switching costs are larger than a threshold, then both firms offer free trials when the horizontal difference between products is moderate. We further demonstrate that in the presence of functionality heterogeneity between products, firms are unable to reach an equilibrium in some specific cases, and more likely to take opposite free trial strategies in equilibrium. Moreover, if the firms do choose opposite strategies, interestingly, the firm with superior product does not offer free trials when switching costs are low, and is more willing to offer as switching costs increase. Our results are robust to the inclusion of other factors in the model, such as the possibility of consumers trying only one product, correlated consumer learning across different products, consumer heterogeneity in usage time, and network effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose assessing the causal effects of a dynamic treatment in a longitudinal observational study, given observed confounders under suitable assumptions. The causal hidden Markov model is based on potential versions of discrete latent variables, and it accounts for the estimated propensity to be assigned to each treatment level over time using inverse probability weighting. Estimation of the model parameters is carried out through a weighted maximum log-likelihood approach. Standard errors for the parameter estimates are provided by nonparametric bootstrap. The proposal is validated through a simulation study aimed at comparing different model specifications. As an illustrative example, we consider a marketing campaign conducted by a large European bank over time on its customers. Findings provide straightforward managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a stochastic goodwill model involving a single manufacturer and a single retailer in a supply chain, in which both quality level and goodwill level are governed by stochastic differential equations. In both the linear-quadratic Stackelberg game and linear-quadratic cooperative game, explicit expressions are obtained for the optimal quality improvement efforts level of the manufacturer, the optimal advertising efforts level of the retailer as well as the optimal profit of the supply chain. We also derive the expectation and variance values for quality and goodwill levels, respectively. The distribution of incremental profit and subsidy are analysed in the cooperative game via the utility theory. Finally, several numerical experiments are reported to show the influence of decay rates and white noise disturbance of the quality and goodwill levels on the expectation of quality and goodwill levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trip recommendation for groups of tourists (TRGT) is a challenging task in tourism since many tourists travel in groups, inducing social interaction and bringing various social benefits. However, TRGT must address various real-life constraints such as limited time for touring, cost, etc. TRGT aims to design personalized tours that meet the preferences of all group members by addressing a variety of tourists' requirements that may sometimes result in conflicts and stress for the group members. TRGT should satisfy that both the preferences of group members need to be achieved as much as possible and the preferences of group members need to be achieved as evenly as possible. In this paper, we present a methodology for tackling the TRGT problem by reducing it to the Cooperative Location Set Cover Problem (CLSCP), formulated as an integer linear program. The CLSCP aims to select a group of facilities that can satisfy, in aggregate, all demand points. To tackle the CLSCP, we present a new method based on detecting frequent patterns. We also demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology by presenting extensive experimental tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trip recommendation for groups of tourists (TRGT) is a challenging task in tourism since many tourists travel in groups, inducing social interaction and bringing various social benefits. However, TRGT must address various real-life constraints such as limited time for touring, cost, etc. TRGT aims to design personalized tours that meet the preferences of all group members by addressing a variety of tourists’ requirements that may sometimes result in conflicts and stress for the group members. TRGT should satisfy that both the preferences of group members need to be achieved as much as possible and the preferences of group members need to be achieved as evenly as possible. In this paper, we present a methodology for tackling the TRGT problem by reducing it to the Cooperative Location Set Cover Problem (CLSCP), formulated as an integer linear program. The CLSCP aims to select a group of facilities that can satisfy, in aggregate, all demand points. To tackle the CLSCP, we present a new method based on detecting frequent patterns. We also demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology by presenting extensive experimental tests.

Vaccines save thousands of lives every year, but many people remain unvaccinated because serious adverse neurological disorders are wrongly attributed to vaccination. The "urban myth" of a relevant vaccine-associated risk is sustained by anti-vaccination groups and it is spread by word-of-mouth communication. We face the problem of increasing the vaccination coverage using an approach which draws some elements from the theory of dynamic advertising models. We propose a dynamic model for the evolution of the number of unvaccinated people and assume that a policy-maker can control this dynamics through advertising. From a mathematical point of view, we state and analyze an optimal control problem with a pure state constraint. We find the unique optimal solution, which minimizes a cost functional, but may fail to be satisfactory from the different viewpoint of moving towards eradication of the disease. Our analysis suggests that we modify the problem statement in order to consider explicitly the goal of reducing the number of unvaccinated people, to a level which guarantees the herd immunity. Hence we introduce an upper bound to the final number of unvaccinated people. From the solutions to the two problems we obtain some prescriptions for the policy-maker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study ponders a significant type of non-monetary form of sales promotion called freebies. It refers to offering a gift of some worth to the customer along with the product purchased. While prior studies focused primarily on monetary forms of sales promotion, a very minimal number of works were conducted on its counterpart. The study bridges the gap between non-monetary sales promotion and brand loyalty in India and inspects into Generation Z consumer behavior toward dietary supplements. It checks whether a freebie campaign influences perceived quality, customer perceived value and purchase intentions. It also investigates the role of the variables as mediators and inspects whether they play any role between freebies and brand loyalty. Intercept method of data collection is applied for the survey across 388 health-conscious respondents. Regression and mediation analysis present that freebies influence the variables positively and partial mediation exists between the causal and outcome variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the resource-based view is used to analyze the implementation of crowdsourcing as an IT-based practice. The study examines strategic positioning regarding market orientation and the role of two capabilities: transformational leadership and organizational learning capability, in the implementation of crowdsourcing. An empirical study of Spanish telecommunications and biotechnology companies confirms the moderating effect of these capabilities on the relationship between market orientation and crowdsourcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms in the fashion industry frequently launch new styles of their products, thereby leading to a 'two-period' phenomenon in product sales: the normal selling time and the last salvage time. Researches about cooperative (co-op) advertising, however, seldom concentrate on this phenomenon. This study explores co-op advertising in a two-period fashion supply chain system in which the retailer offers a price discount in the second period. We derive the optimal pricing, product design level and advertising efforts in two scenarios: a decentralised scenario with a co-op advertising program and integrated scenario. Additionally, we propose a bilateral participation-revenue-sharing contract to coordinate this channel. Some insights and management implications are obtained. Firstly, if the consumers are insensitive to the first-period price, the retailer will set a high retail price in this period, while selling the product at a big discount in the second period to stimulate extra consumption. Secondly, if the price elasticity of demand is small, the retailer will spend more on the advertisement, otherwise the condition is opposite. Lastly, this study verifies that the bilateral participation-revenue-sharing contract can achieve a seamless coordination in this supply chain with a transfer payment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The best way to prevent a highly contagious infection such as measles is active immunization with a suitable vaccine. Unfortunately, in the last 10 years in EU there has been a decrease in vaccinations, so that their coverage goes under the minimum level to obtain herd immunity. This is a sanitary emergency and it is connected with the "urban myth" that serious adverse neurological disorders should be attributed to vaccination. Anti-vaccination groups spread this "urban myth" by word-of-mouth communication. We model the evolution of the number of unvaccinated people assuming that a policy-maker can control this dynamics through advertising. The idea of connecting dynamic advertising models and vaccination campaign is recent and it represents some aspects of the issue that have never been explored before. From a mathematical point of view we study a variable final time optimal control problem in which the policy-maker wants to minimize the costs in order to obtain herd immunity in due time. We find the optimal solution and we obtain some prescriptions for the policy-maker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the long-term impact of loyalty programs on a company's profit and reputation among customers, and with different durations of product use. We analyze how the launch of loyalty programs may change the profitability of optimal advertising activities. The basis of this study is a modified goodwill model where the market is segmented according to usage experience. The main novelty is the role of loyalty programs and consumer recommendations in the creation of product goodwill, and also their influence on optimal advertising. The dynamics of goodwill are described by a partial differential equation. The firm maximizes the sum of discounted profits by choosing a different advertising campaign for each market segment. For a high-quality product, we observe that there is a trade off between the loyalty program and optimal advertising strategies. For a low-quality product, the loyalty program causes more profitable companies to invest heavily in additional advertising efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the joint inventory and pricing decision problem that a loss averse firm with reference point selling seasonal products to strategic consumers with risk preference and decreasing value. Consumers can decide whether to buy at the full price in stage 1, or to wait till stage 2 for the salvage price. They may not get the product if the product is sold out in stage 2. The firm aims to choose a base stock policy and find an optimal price to maximize its expected utility, while consumers aim to decide whether to buy or wait strategically for optimizing their payoffs. We formulate the problem as a Stackelberg game between the firm and the strategic consumers in which the firm is the leader. By deriving the rational expectation equilibrium, we find both the optimal stocking level and the full price in our model are lower than those in the classical model without strategic consumers, by which leads to a lower profit. Furthermore, it is shown that the reimbursement contract cannot alleviate the impact of strategic behavior of customers while the firm's profit can be improved by the price commitment strategy in most cases. Numerical studies are carried out to investigate the impact of strategic customer behavior and system parameters on the firm's optimal decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market makers choose and design market rules to serve certain objectives, such as to maximize revenue from the sales in the case of a single seller and multiple buyers. Given such rules, market participants play against each other to maximize their utility function values on goods acquired, possibly by hiding or misrepresenting their information needed in the implementation of market rules. Today’s Internet economy has changed the information collection process and may make some of the assumptions of market rule implementation obsolete. Here we make a fresh review of works on this challenge on the Internet where new economic systems operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, cooperative advertising in a manufacturer–retailer supply chain is studied. Advertising can enhance willingness to pay (WTP) of customers. This trade-off between the benefits of increasing WTP of customers and the advertising expenditure is a key to understanding the retailers optimal advertising decision. On the other hand, it is interesting to understand in which condition supporting the retailer for his advertising expenditure is beneficial for the manufacturer. In this study, in order to capture pricing and advertising strategies of the channel member, three non-cooperative games including Nash, Stackelberg retailer and Stackelberg manufacturer game-theoretic models are established. In spite of the related studies which restrict price in order to prevent negative demand, the proposed model allows channel members to increase their prices by enhancing WTP of customers. In this study, contrary to similar additive form demand functions applied in the co-op ad literature which limits their studies for cases that profit function is concave with respect to variables, optimal prices and advertising strategies are obtained for all the solution space. Surprisingly for the very high values of the advertising effect coefficient, a finite optimal advertising expenditure is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gift cards is frequently used to replace traditional gift cash and gift products, especially when gift givers do not know gift receiver's perfor- mances. Basing on this phenomenon, we analyze the supplier's and the re- tailer's strategies with selling gift cards. First, we develop a Stackelberg model without selling gift cards. Next, we develop two models with selling gift cards when unredeemed gift cards balances become the retailer's property and the state's property, respectively. We present the optimal solutions and exam the impacts of parameters on the optimal decisions and the supply chain perfor- mance. When the retailer sells gift cards, the optimal order quantity is smaller than that without selling gift cards. The optimal wholesale price with selling gift cards is related to the treatment of unredeemed gift card balances. When unredeemed gift cards balances become the retailer's property, the wholesale price is lower than that without selling gift cards. However, when unredeemed gift cards balances become the state's property, the wholesale price is lower than that without selling gift cards in some conditions. And with selling gift cards, the optimal expected profits of retailer and supply chain are better of ,but the optimal expected profit of supplier is worse off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of advertising on sales has been the subject of recent studies as an important aspect in many demand-based problems. Herein, we deal with the newsvendor problem, due to its simple structure, as a suitable tool for illustrating how facets of marketing may affect decision-making concerning operational problems. In the setting presented, the newsvendor is faced with advertising-sensitive stochastic demand, where a demand-related random element comprises an advertising decision of the multiplicative or additive form. We assume that a suitable advertising strategy results in increased sales. Two advertising response functions are considered, these being concave downward and S-shaped. We review and extend the existing results relating to the newsvendor problem with marketing effects, which mostly pertain to the concave function. These are generalized by defining the S-shaped function, and some original insights into the effect of advertising are given. We establish that the optimal advertising expenditure for the multiplicative case is always less than or equal to the optimal amount in the equivalent deterministic model while it is always equal in the additive case. We finally illustrate the results that are obtained by providing numerical examples involving various advertising response functions, as well as management-related interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new optimal control model of product goodwill in a segmented market where the state variable behaviour is described by a partial differential equation of the Lotka-Sharp-McKendrick type. In order to maximize the sum of discounted profits over a finite time horizon, we control the marketing communication activities which influence the state equation and the boundary condition. Moreover, we introduce the mathematical representation of heterogeneous electronic word of mouth. Based on the semigroup approach, we prove the existence and uniqueness of optimal controls. Using a maximum principle, we describe a numerical algorithm to find the optimal solution. Finally, we examine several examples on the optimal goodwill model and discover two types of marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advance selling of goods and services is a form of separating purchase from consumption. It is often employed when consumers are uncertain about their consumption utilities until a short time period before consumption. A book to be released, a concert to attend, or a cruise to take are some examples. Invariably, in consumers' mind inventory availability (of copies, seats, or rooms) is a concern. In this paper we study a retailer's inventory and pricing decisions in an advance selling scenario that involves consumers who are strategic. Some consumers not only consider advance and spot prices, but also the uncertainty in future availability of the product (during the spot period) and in their consumption utility from it. We characterize the optimal inventory management and pricing policies, and discuss several interesting aspects of the solution. For example, it can be optimal for the retailer to limit advance sales even if there is more demand for it, and it can be optimal for the retailer to limit its inventory even though there is more capacity to keep it, but not both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with sales forecasting of a given commodity in a retail store of large distribution. For many years statistical methods such as ARIMA and Exponential Smoothing have been used to this aim. However the statistical methods could fail if high irregularity of sales are present, as happens for instance in case of promotions, because they are not well suited to model the nonlinear behaviors of the sales process. In recent years new methods based on machine learning are being employed for forecasting applications. A preliminary investigation indicates that methods based on the support vector machine (SVM) are more promising than other machine learning methods for the case considered. The paper assesses the application of SVM to sales forecasting under promotion impacts, compares SVM with other statistical methods, and tackles two real case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on marketing models, the assumption of mixed word-of-mouth has been limited to the Bass diffusion model. Yet explicit leveraging of the originating factors of such assumption is lacking. Apart from that example, mixed word-of-mouth has been disregarded in contagion sales models. This paper bridges the gap by suggesting a sales model, where both positive and negative word-of-mouth affect the attraction rate of new customers, along with advertising. The difference between positive and negative word-of-mouth is based on the distinction between satisfied and dissatisfied current customers, which is supposed to depend on conformance quality. A primary issue in this paper is to determine how a firm should determine the optimal intertemporal trade-off between investing in advertising-dependent word-of-mouth and quality-dependent word-of-mouth. To address this issue, a contagion sales model is suggested where mixed autonomous word-of-mouth alone can lead to either commercial success or failure of a given brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eigenvalue complementarity problem (EiCP) differs from the traditional eigenvalue problem in that the primal and dual variables belong to a closed and convex coneKand its dual, respectively, and satisfy a complementarity condition. In this paper we investigate the solution of the second-order cone EiCP (SOCEiCP) whereKis the Lorentz cone. We first show that the SOCEiCP reduces to a special Variational Inequality Problem on a compact set defined byKand a normalization constraint. This guarantees that SOCEiCP has at least one solution, and a new enumerative algorithm is introduced for finding a solution to this problem. The method is based on finding a global minimum of an appropriate nonlinear programming (NLP) formulation of the SOCEiCP using a special branching scheme along with a local nonlinear optimizer that computes stationary points on subsets of the feasible region of NLP associated with the nodes generated by the algorithm. A semi-smooth Newton's method is combined with this enumerative algorithm to enhance its numerical performance. Our computational experience illustrates the efficacy of the proposed techniques in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found that perceived justice with service recovery dimensions (distributive, procedural, and interactional) are crucial factors influencing customers' emotions after a service recovery effort. According to the service recovery literature, these post-recovery emotions represent an important determinant of satisfaction with service recovery and thus behavioral intentions. This study extends the literature by investigating the role of service failure severity within the existing framework of service recovery research. Data were collected through a survey of airline passengers who experienced a service failure and thus a service recovery effort in the past year. The results indicate that procedural justice and interactional justice had significant effects on post-recovery emotions, which in turn were significantly related to recovery satisfaction. In addition, the results provide partial support for the moderating effect of service failure severity. These results have important implications and suggest some interesting avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the solution of the symmetric quadratic eigenvalue complementarity problem (QEiCP) is addressed. The QEiCP has a solution provided the so-called co-regular and co-hyperbolic properties hold and is said to be symmetric if all the matrices involved in its definition are symmetric. We show that under the two conditions stated above the symmetric QEiCP can be reduced to the problem of computing a stationary point of an appropriate nonlinear program (NLP). We also investigate the reduction of the QEiCP to a simpler eigenvalue complementarity problem (EiCP). This transformation enables us to show that the co-regular and co-hyperbolic properties are not necessary for the existence of a solution to the QEiCP. Furthermore the QEiCP is shown to be equivalent to the problem of finding a stationary point of a quadratic fractional program (QFP) under special conditions on the matrices of the QEiCP. The use of the so-called spectral projected-gradient (SPG) algorithm for dealing with the programs NLP and QFP is also investigated. Some considerations about the implementation of this algorithm are discussed. Computational experience is included to highlight the efficiency of the algorithm for finding a solution of the QEiCP by exploring the NLPs mentioned above. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]