Pricing in the presence of strategic consumers

供应链管理致力于将供需错配降至最低。这一目标不断受到不断变化的环境、风险和不确定性的挑战。许多加拿大企业，如旅游和酒店业的企业，采用多阶段竞争性动态定价，其中需求建模起着重要作用。这些动态的定价决策是通过收入管理机制实现的，通常需要频繁的价格更新。收入管理算法的一个结果是价格波动，它可以以学术文献尚未研究的方式影响消费者的购买和时机决策。拟议的研究将汇集丰富的数据集，主要来自航空业，以分析和增强我们对存在价格波动或收入管理商品时正在出现的权衡的了解。实证分析产生的见解将作为分析博弈论多阶段动态规划模型的基础，更现实地捕捉需求：传统的收入管理模型将进行重新设计和扩展，以纳入不同程度竞争强度和战略消费者行为的价格波动影响，以确定价格更新的最佳水平和幅度。 战略消费者考虑未来的价格和可获得性，并相应地安排他们的购买时间。借鉴航空业和二级市场(如亚马逊)的例子，将探讨另外两个方面。首先，在需求不确定的情况下的库存决策；这种决策会严重影响卖家和消费者之间的互动以及由此产生的动态定价决策。将提出最优库存和相应的定价决策，我将调查卖家是否能够利用战略消费者的存在来提高盈利能力。第二，与传统分销渠道竞争的在线市场的出现。这些市场为消费者提供了一个有效的渠道来交易他们的商品和清理市场。我将研究供应链合作伙伴应该如何应对二级市场的出现，商品应该如何动态定价，以及这样的市场是否可以使零售商、供应商和消费者受益。 这项研究将：(I)扩大我们对收入管理商品价格波动和战略消费者行为影响的知识和理解；(Ii)使公司在设计动态定价算法以及改善库存决策和供应链协调方面受益；(Iii)在这种环境下为政策制定者提供支持；以及(Iv)培养训练有素的毕业生，拥有一套扎实的经验和建模技能，并接触到应用程序。

Supply chain management strives to minimize supply-demand mismatch. This objective is constantly challenged by changing environments, risks, and uncertainties. Many Canadian businesses, such as those in the travel and hospitality industries, engage in multi-period competitive dynamic pricing, where demand modelling plays a major role. These dynamic pricing decisions are operationalized through revenue management mechanisms, often commanding frequent price updates. An outcome of revenue management algorithms is price volatility, which can influence consumers’ purchase and timing decisions in ways that have not been studied yet by the academic literature. The proposed research will assemble rich datasets, primarily from the airline industry, to analyze and enhance our knowledge on the emerging trade-offs in the presence of price volatility or revenue managed goods. Insights generated from the empirical analysis will serve as the foundation for analytical game-theoretical multi-period dynamic programming models, capturing demand more realistically: traditional revenue management models will be redesigned and extended to incorporate the effects of price volatility for varying degrees of competition intensity and strategic consumer behaviour to identify optimal levels of price updates and their magnitudes. Strategic consumers take into account future realizations of prices and availability of goods, and time their purchase accordingly. Drawing on examples of the airline industry and of secondary markets (such as Amazon), two additional aspects will be explored. First, inventory decisions in the presence of uncertain demand; such decisions can critically affect the interaction between sellers and consumers and the resulting dynamic pricing decisions. Optimal inventory and corresponding pricing decisions will be proposed and I will investigate whether the sellers can leverage the presence of strategic consumers to increase profitability. Second, the emergence of online marketplaces, which compete with traditional distribution channels. These marketplaces provide consumers with an efficient channel to trade their goods and clear the market. I will research how the supply chain partners shall react to the emergence of secondary markets, how the goods should be dynamically priced, and whether such marketplaces can benefit retailers, suppliers, and consumers. This research will: (i) extend our knowledge and understanding of price volatility of revenue managed goods and the effects of strategic consumer behaviour; (ii) benefit firms in designing dynamic pricing algorithms as well as improving inventory decisions and supply chain coordination; (iii) serve policy makers in supporting consumers in such environments; and (iv) produce exceptionally well trained graduates with a sought after solid set of empirical and modeling skills with exposure to applications.