Mathematical and computational approaches to revenue management

收益管理是研究公司如何决定价格和库存水平，以优化某些数量，通常是收入或利润。一个经典的例子是一家航空公司必须决定机票的价格，假设从多伦多到温哥华的航班。售票过程通常至少在出发前6个月开始。一种方法是航空公司尽快以相当便宜的价格出售机票，以确保所有机票都售出，因为未售出的机票一旦飞机起飞就一文不值。然而，商务人士通常会在出发日期前要求一张几乎没有警告的机票。这些票可以以更高的价格出售，所以问题是什么是作为时间函数的最优价格结构。这是一个复杂的问题，特别是因为现实需求模型通常会包含一个随机项。这种类型的分析可以应用于许多不同的产品和服务，这些产品和服务的商品不能储存。

Revenue management is the study of deciding how a firm should decide on prices and inventory levels in order to optimize some quantities,usually revenue or profit. The classical example is an airline which must decide on the price it is going to charge for tickets, let us say for a flight from Toronto to Vancouver. The process of selling ticketsusually starts at least six months before the date of departure. One approach is for the airline to sell the tickets fairly cheaply as soon as possible in order to make sure that all tickets are sold since an unsold ticket is worthless as soon as the plane departs. However, business people often require a ticket with very little warning closeto the departure date. These tickets can be sold for a much higher price, so the question is what is the optimal price structure as afunction of time. This is a complex problem especially since a realistic demand model usually will contain a stochastic term. Thistype of analysis can be applied to many different products and services, for which the good cannot be stored.