Decentralized decision-making in a large team with local information

We study a problem involving a team of agents each associated with a node in a chain. Each agent makes a decision that influences only his own cost and those of adjacent agents. Prior to making his decision, each agent observes only the cost structure associated with nodes that can be reached by traversing no more than r arcs. Decisions are selected without any coordination, with the common objective of minimizing average cost among agents. We consider such decisions decentralized since agents act based on different information. Cost incurred by an optimal centralized strategy, in which a single decision-maker has access to all information and dictates all decisions, is employed as a performance benchmark. We show that, to maintain a certain level of performance relative to optimal centralized strategies, decentralized deterministic strategies require r to be proportional to the number of agents. This means that the amount of information accessible to any agent should be proportional to the total number of agents. Stochastic strategies, on the other hand, decentralize more gracefully—the amount of information required by each agent is independent of the total number of agents.     

A NOTE: A CLARIFICATION OF THE ROLE OF YIELD UNCERTAINTY IN INFLUENCING OVER-QUOTA PRODUCTION*

The literature shows that the influence of yield uncertainty on production relative to quota is ambiguous in the case of a single market. This paper uses a two-market framework (quota market and secondary market) with multiplicative yield uncertainty to show that if over-quota production in the absence of yield uncertainty is profitable, then the presence of yield uncertainty is unambiguously a further stimulus to over-quota production. The analysis is discussed in the context of recent changes to the marketing arrangements for Western Australian potatoes.     

New directions for innovation

The current dimensions of technological innovation are analysed to provide a summary of the state of knowledge of innovation, which is then taken as a basis for recommending sensible management practices for nourishing it. Particularly important are organization, management approach and timing, with new roles for the customer, R&D laboratories and career development in the innovation management process.     

Telemarketing in distribution channels

This article identifies the use of telemarketing in channels of distribution. Specific telemarketing applications for sales leads, marginal accounts, new products, customer inquiries and complaints, and advertising effectiveness are discussed.