European Journal of Operational Research最新文献

{"title":"Natural divisibility bridging convex and nonconvex technologies: Bargaining-based estimation by cost and revenue functions","authors":"Kristiaan Kerstens, Stefano Nasini, Rabia Nessah","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.046","url":null,"abstract":"This contribution introduces a game-theoretic framework to infer divisibility levels from observed input–output production data. This is accomplished through a new class of <mml:math altimg=\"si431.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:math>-parametrized deterministic, nonparametric technologies, which extend the conventional convex (<mml:math altimg=\"si508.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>M</mml:mi><mml:mo linebreak=\"goodbreak\" linebreakstyle=\"after\">=</mml:mo><mml:mi>∞</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>) and nonconvex (<mml:math altimg=\"si509.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>M</mml:mi><mml:mo linebreak=\"goodbreak\" linebreakstyle=\"after\">=</mml:mo><mml:mn>1</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>) alternatives by incorporating the new notion of natural divisibility. The statistical estimation of <mml:math altimg=\"si431.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:math> is rooted in a bargaining game involving two hypothetical players pursuing conflicting objectives: efficiency and divisibility, where efficiency is measured in terms of cost and revenue functions (whose value is influenced by <mml:math altimg=\"si431.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:math>), whereas the divisibility is measured by <mml:math altimg=\"si431.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:math> itself. We employ the Kalai–Smorodinsky bargaining solution as an axiomatic approach to achieve an equilibrium divisibility level within the <mml:math altimg=\"si431.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:math>-parametrized production possibility set. We conduct numerical tests using two secondary data sources, which reveal that <mml:math altimg=\"si510.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>M</mml:mi><mml:mo linebreak=\"goodbreak\" linebreakstyle=\"after\">=</mml:mo><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math> is the recurrent equilibrium divisibility. This highlights a limitation of traditional convex and nonconvex frontier methods, which both ignore the need for an endogenous assessment of natural divisibility.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144900232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Singular control in a cash management model with ambiguity","authors":"Arnon Archankul ,&nbsp;Giorgio Ferrari ,&nbsp;Tobias Hellmann ,&nbsp;Jacco J.J. Thijssen","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.023","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.023","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We consider a singular control model of cash reserve management, driven by a diffusion under ambiguity. The manager is assumed to have maxmin preferences over a set of priors characterized by <span><math><mi>κ</mi></math></span>-ignorance. A verification theorem is established to determine the firm’s cost function and the optimal cash policy; the latter taking the form of a control barrier policy. In a model driven by arithmetic Brownian motion, we use Dynkin games to show that an increase in ambiguity leads to higher expected costs under the worst-case prior and a narrower inaction region. The latter effect can be used to provide an ambiguity-driven explanation for observed cash management behavior. Our findings can be applied to broader applications of singular control in managing inventories under ambiguity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"327 2","pages":"Pages 500-514"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Index policies for campaign promotion strategies in reward-based crowdfunding","authors":"Chenguang Wang ,&nbsp;Dong Li ,&nbsp;Baibing Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.020","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.020","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reward-based crowdfunding plays a crucial role in fundraising for start-up entrepreneurs. Recent studies, however, have shown that the actual success rate of fundraising projects is surprisingly low across multiple crowdfunding platforms. This paper considers crowdfunding platforms’ decision-making of selecting projects to highlight on their homepage to boost the chance of success for projects, and investigates promotion strategies aiming at maximizing platforms’ revenue over a fixed period. We characterize backers’ investment decisions by a discrete choice model with a time-varying coefficient of herding effect, and formulate the problem as a stochastic dynamic program, which is however computationally intractable. To address this issue, we follow the Whittle’s Restless Bandit approach to decompose the problem into a collection of single-project problems and prove indexability for each project under some mild conditions. We show that the index values of the proposed index policy can be directly derived from the value-to-go of each project under the non-promotion policy, which is calculated recursively offline with a linear-time complexity. Moreover, to further enhance the scalability we develop a closed-form approximation to calculate the index values online. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first in the literature to develop index policies for campaign promotions in reward-based crowdfunding. It is also the first attempt to provide indexability analysis of bi-dimensional restless bandits coupled by not only resource but also demand. Extensive numerical experiments show that the proposed index policies outperform the other benchmark heuristics in most of the scenarios considered.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"327 2","pages":"Pages 515-539"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bankruptcy prediction with fractional polynomial transformation of financial ratios","authors":"Zenon Taoushianis","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.036","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.036","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We show that simple nonlinear transformations of financial ratios, within a multivariate fractional polynomial approach, yield substantial improvements in bankruptcy prediction. The approach selects optimal power functions balancing parsimony and complexity. Focusing on a dataset comprising of non-financial firms, we develop a parsimonious nonlinear logit model with minimal parameter specification and clear interpretability, outperforming linear logit models. The model improves the in-sample fit, while out-of-sample it significantly reduces costly misclassification errors and improves discriminatory power. Similar insights are obtained when applying fractional polynomials on a secondary dataset consisting of banking firms. Interestingly, the fractional polynomial model compares favourably with other nonlinear models. By simulating a competitive loan market, we demonstrate that the bank using the fractional polynomial model builds a higher-quality loan portfolio, resulting in superior risk-adjusted profitability compared to banks employing alternative models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"327 2","pages":"Pages 690-702"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Business Model Selection in Competition with an E-platform’s Store Brand under Various Channel Price Leadership","authors":"Hai Li, Jing Shao, Stuart X. Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.035","url":null,"abstract":"E-commerce platforms have witnessed substantial growth in recent years. Within these platforms, national brand manufacturers (NBMs) face a choice between two distinct business models for selling their products: the wholesale model or the agency model. Additionally, the e-commerce platform itself may introduce a store brand (SB) that competes with the NBM’s national brand (NB). We have delved into the intricate dynamics at play between the NBM’s selection of a business model and the e-platform’s decision to introduce an SB, employing a game-theoretic model. Our investigation has yielded valuable insights: First, when an NBM opts for the wholesale model, the e-platform consistently introduces an SB. Conversely, under the agency model, the e-platform refrains from introducing an SB if both the commission rate for the NB product and the planned quality of the SB are sufficiently high. If the e-platform introduces the SB with low quality, the NBM may switch from an agency model to a wholesale model at a relatively low commission rate for the e-platform. Furthermore, the e-platform tends to favor an intermediate level of quality for the SB. This approach allows the SB to generate substantial revenue without engaging in intense competition with the NB. Both the NBM and the e-platform tend to prefer a moderate commission rate. Finally, our analysis delves into the impact of channel price leadership on the equilibrium outcomes. In a surprising turn, under the agency model, it proves advantageous for both firms to relinquish channel price leadership. Additionally, the NBM is more likely to adopt the wholesale model when it assumes the role of channel price leader. The e-platform is less likely to introduce SBs when it takes on the leadership position.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"234 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Counterfactual explanations for linear optimization","authors":"Jannis Kurtz, Ş. İlker Birbil, Dick den Hertog","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.06.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.06.016","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, the concept of counterfactual explanations (CE) has become increasingly important in understanding the inner workings of complex AI systems. In this paper, we introduce the idea of CEs in the context of linear optimization and propose, explain, and analyze three different classes of CEs: relative, weak, and strong. We discuss in which situation each type of CE is needed and examine the structure of the optimization problems that arise from considering them. By detecting and leveraging the underlying convex structure of the relative CE problem, we demonstrate that computing the relative CEs takes the same order of time as solving the original problems. We also address the computational challenges associated with weak and strong CE problems. To illustrate our findings, we present a case study with data sourced from the World Food Programme in which we calculate each type of CE. Finally, we conduct comprehensive numerical experiments using the NETLIB library to demonstrate that relative CE problems can be solved as quickly as solving the original linear optimization problem.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"50 years of mixed-integer nonlinear and disjunctive programming","authors":"Jan Kronqvist, David E. Bernal Neira, Ignacio E. Grossmann","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.016","url":null,"abstract":"This paper gives an overview of the development of Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) and Generalized Disjunctive Programming (GDP) over the past fifty years. We cover key methods, algorithms, and techniques for solving MINLPs and GDPs, focusing on both the modeling framework and solution techniques. We provide historical perspectives, highlight the key features and major challenges, and aim to give an in-depth introduction to the fields. We also discuss some future research directions. The paper is aimed at readers who are familiar with Mixed-Integer Linear Programming but are not experts on MINLP or GDP.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Approaches for biobjective integer linear robust optimization","authors":"Fabian Chlumsky-Harttmann, Marie Schmidt, Anita Schöbel","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.06.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.06.010","url":null,"abstract":"Real-world optimization problems often do not just involve multiple objectives but also uncertain parameters. In this case, the goal is to find Pareto-optimal solutions that are robust, i.e., reasonably good under all possible realizations of the uncertain data. Such solutions have been studied in many papers within the last ten years and are called <ce:italic>robust efficient</ce:italic>. However, solution methods for finding robust efficient solutions are scarce. In this paper, we develop three algorithms for determining robust efficient solutions to biobjective mixed-integer linear robust optimization problems.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The devil in the details: Dynamic Prediction of loan portfolio profitability with macroeconomic drivers through multi-state modelling","authors":"Viani B. Djeundje,&nbsp;Jonathan Crook,&nbsp;Galina Andreeva","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In typical loan portfolios such as mortgages and credit cards, many accounts often experience different stages of delinquency before eventually recovering, fully repaying their balance, or defaulting. From the lender perspective, these events, coupled with the state of the economy, can affect cash-flow and profitability significantly.</div><div>This paper presents a novel framework for dynamic monitoring future expected profit margins and cash flows of loan accounts, taking into account (i) individual risk profiles, (ii) macroeconomic trends, and (iii) transitions between different stages of delinquency.</div><div>We make three contributions. First, we show a method to predict future cash flows and profit margins over the life of a loan where the predicted probabilities of an account jumping between delinquency states are obligor specific, time varying, adjusted to be competing risks and dependent on predictions from a macroeconomic model. This model is much more comprehensive model than those in the literature. Second, we investigate different methods to compute optimised cut-offs to be used with the transition probabilities to predict jumps an account is expected to make between different states of delinquency. Third, we illustrate the method using a large sample of 30-year term mortgages and show the expected profit margins for segments of the portfolio. The method will be particularly useful to lenders, who must comply with IFRS9 or CECL.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"327 2","pages":"Pages 703-715"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Carbon Emissions Hedging and Green Marketing","authors":"Yue Zhai, Huxi Deng, Suxiu Xu, George Q. Huang, T.C.E. Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.029","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates a hedging and green marketing coordination problem for a supply chain under which a manufacturer sells products through a retailer to satisfy demand which is sensitive to both green marketing and product greenness. Green marketing promotes demand but requires the retailer to make extra investment. Product greenness depends on the actual realized carbon emission abatement (CEA). However, due to uncertainties during the production process, the realized CEA often less than its target level. To entice the retailer to pay more effort on green marketing, some manufacturers enhance the product greenness by taking proactive activities to hedge against CEA uncertainties, which is referred to as carbon emission hedging (CEH). To examine the effect of CEH on green marketing and channel performances, we proposed a CEH and green marketing mechanism (CG mechanism). Moreover, since the game follower usually exhibits fairness concerns, we also explore the various combinations of the retailer’s fairness concern behaviour and the manufacturer’s attitude towards this behaviour. We find that adopting the CEH strategy promotes the green marketing and the CG mechanism always coordinates the supply chain when the retailer is fairness-neutral or his fairness-concern level is not sufficiently high (e.g. λ₁ ≈ 0.9). Besides, lower consumer price sensitivity and higher consumer green marketing/product greenness sensitivity/amplification effect of CEH on green marketing improve the market demand and the retailer’s profit, but not necessarily benefit the manufacturer. Additionally, being fairness-concerned is not always beneficial for the retailer and ignoring the retailer’s fairness concern often harms the manufacturer.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}