Abstract:The search engine advertising (SEA) market has been developing rapidly in recent years． The empirical research on keywords biding strategy and performances in China，however，is very limited． Based on a unique dataset of Zhitongche SEA in Taobao． com，this paper applies an econometrics analysis to explore the relationship between keywords biding strategy and SEA performances． The multi-dimensional analysis indicates that increasing the biding price of keywords is more efficient in generating payback than increasing the number of keywords under equal costs． Meanwhile，considering brand information and specific products information during the keywords design is also helpful to raise the sales． The ROI of Zhitongche SEA reaches about 450% in this study，suggesting a good return of SEA in Taobao． com． This study contributes to the SEA theory with the empirical results from the pure ecommerce websites． It also provides managerial implications for advertisers to improve their keyword biding strategy in SEA．

Abstract:Customers’returning products is very common in online retailing and it significantly impacts on the seller’s operations decisions． In this paper，we investigate an online retailer who simultaneously determines the retail price and order quantity while experiencing customer returns and price dependent stochastic demand with a multiplicative mode． We assume that the customer’s returned product quantity is a function of both the quantity sold and the price and the online retailer’s operations can be either single or multi-period with and without uncertainty in demand． We analytically derive results for optimal prices and order quantities under certainty demand in both the single and multi-period situations and demonstrate the unique solution existence in the single period stochastic situation． For the multi-period stochastic demand situation，we numerically analyze how the firm should change prices and inventory quantities in order to mitigate the negative effects of returns from customers in the stochastic demand situation． We also model the online retailer’s expected profit with mean-variance to examine the change of the expected revenue with customer’s returns． The risk preference of a retailer has a significant impact on the retailer’s optimal decisions with customer’s returns．

Abstract:Automobile and logistics are the two critical restructuring and invigorating industries in China． In the context of assembly plant capacity expansion，with the purpose of improving the system performance，this paper elaborates on the optimal design of key operations in the logistics mode of auto parts milk run and cross dock dealt with by a 3PL company． We build a simulation model which integrated the operations of milk run and cross-docking based on practical research data． Further，we propose an optimization algorithm that uses sequential bifurcation and Response surface methodology (SB-RSM) of the design and analysis of simulation experiments theory． The results of specified simulation design and runs indicate that the logistics performances are greatly improved if the 3PL simply optimizes the key operations，which helps to reduce the workload of the 3PL． The proposed SB-RSM shows higher efficiency and efficacy than classical RSM． This study contributes to decision making concerning supporting automobile parts 3PL Company when the automobile assembly plant capacity expands，and guides to solve the optimization issue of complex simulated system．

Abstract:Based on the production organization processes of steel-iron factories，this paper proposes a hybrid MTO-MTS order planning management method，and establishes integer programming models for the order planning problems based on MTO management idea and MTO-MTS management idea respectively． The models take into account earliness/tardiness penalty，inventory cost，production cost，inventory matching cost and order cancellation penalty，and consider inventory matching and production planning simultaneously． In order to solve the models，a PSO algorithm with heuristic repaired strategy for infeasible solutions is designed． In the experiments，parameters are analyzed and three sets of data with different order quantities are tested． Numerical results show that the MTO-MTS management mode can avoid the risk of demand forecasting inaccuracy， coordinate the contradiction of fast delivery and low inventory，and adapt to the development trend of the diversification and individualization of market demand．

Abstract:This paper focuses on the investment valuation of natural resource development projects under uncertainties of cash inflows，development costs and operating costs． On the basis of existing real option investment valuation models，with the management flexibilities of both postponing the investment decision and stopping the production in the production process considered，a real option valuation model on natural resource development projects with multiply uncertainties is established． An analytic solution of the model are also provided through applying the price principles such as exchange option and martingale process，and the main parameters are statically analyzed based on a real example of crude-oil development project in China．

Abstract:There are both a linkage relationship and economic distances between sectors in the national economic system． The linkages between sectors show their interconnection，and their economic distance reflects their intermediate production links． This paper synthesizes the advantages of the average production lengths model and relevancy of input-output method，and constructs a regional industrial linkage and economic distance model，including the forward linkage and economic distance index and the backward linkage and economic distance index． Then，we calculate these indexes according to eight-regional-input-output table for China in 1997，in 2002 and in 2007． The results show，from the viewpoint of the primary inputs of upstream industry，that the greatest interconnection and the minimum economic distance is from the sector of mining to the sector of electricity and heating power production and supply; and from the point of the final demand of the downstream industry，that the greatest interconnection and the minimum economic distance is from the sector of electricity and heating power production and supply mining to the sector of heavy industry or the sector of construction during the period from 1997 to 2007 either intra-region or inter-region． We find there are greater interconnections in intra-region than inter-region for the upstream and downstream industries of the sector of electricity and heating power production and supply，and the greatest spatial energy interconnection takes place in the vicinity of most of the eight regions because of spatial costs．

Abstract:The analysts’forecasting behavior often has bias． In the stock market bubble period，the analysts are often irrational and over-optimistic． When the bubble crashes，the analysts issue the opposite earnings forecasts and downgrade stock recommendations． Traditional theories can’t explain this fact clearly． This paper tries to introduce the catering theory and applies a reputation game model to analyze the analysts’catering behavior． The theoretical model shows that，because investors can’t obtain the feedback timely，they will infer analysts’reputation according to their prior beliefs and the analysts’forecasts． In order to build a good reputation，the analysts are likely to cater investors’prior beliefs and issue biased forecasts． The evidence based on China also shows that analysts’forecasts are affected by the investors’prior beliefs，i． e． ，sentiment，which exhibits obvious catering behavior． This supports the theoretical expectations of the reputation game model．

Abstract:Financial systems are complex systems which composed by many adaptive interactive agents． During the past 20 years，agent-based computational finance explores the complex operation laws and evolution properties of financial system and expands the traditional classical financial theory through microscopic modeling method of the " bottom-up" ． In the paper，employing the bibliometric method，we generally reviewed the status of publications on agent-based computational finance． And then，based on the individual complex evolutionary perspective，we summarized the development of three important directions i． e． ，the individual learning，the species switching and the complex network and prospected the future research．