Research On Multi-Attribute Combinatorial Auction For Transportation Service Procurement

With the development of information technology and e-commerce, it is becoming more and more common that combinatorial auctions are applied to the allocation and procurement of the transportation service, in which the shippers enable carriers to make full use of economies of scale and scope. In the procurement of the transportation service, the researchers often only consider a single attribute-price, but the non-price attributes are equally or more important to price.The primary goal of this thesis is to apply the multi-attribute auction to the procurement of transportation service, and conduct a study on the strategies both the bidders and shippers in multi-attribute combinatorial auctions for transportation service procurement. Accordingly, there is theoretical and practical significance for this paper.The thesis consists of six chapters, the main research works are as follows:(1) In chapter 1, our research motivation and significance are introduced. The related literatures of research on combinatorial auctions and multi-attribute auctions are classified and reviewed. Meanwhile, the researches which are closely related to our work are presented. Based on the previous studies mentioned above, existing problem which haven't been paid more attention to and contents of our work are presented.(2) In chapter 2, some relate theories:economic of scope for transportation service, auction and combinatorial auctions are presented. The introductions of these theories in this chapter lay the theoretical foundation for the study of this paper.(3) In chapter 3, the problem focused on is how to determine the optimal bidding packages and price for the bidders respectively in the absence and presence of pre-existing commitments. Under several general assumptions, we make the bid construction models and the formulas of bidding price for the above two circumstances.(4) hi chapter 4, the carrier assignment problem (for the shipper) is discussed, In the transportation auction, when the carriers offer the tenders, the shipper should allocate their resources. We consider the strategies of the shipper, and construct the model of carrier assignment problem based on the two-dimensional on price and service quality. It is the key issue in the auction, which directly affects the profits of the shipper and the carriers and efficiency of the whole auction.(5) In chapter 5, we present the numerical example respectively for the above two circumstances to test and verify the bid construction and carrier assignment models, and make some comparative analysis with the single-line auction and single-attribute combinatorial auction etc.(6) In chapter 6, the contributions brought by the research and limitations of the thesis are presented. On the other hand, the future research directions in this field are suggested.