Working Papers

These papers are working drafts of research which often appear in final form in academic journals. The published versions may differ from the working versions provided here.

SSRN Research Paper Series

The Social Science Research Network’s Research Paper Series includes working papers produced by Stanford GSB the Rock Center.

You may search for authors and topics and download copies of the work there.

Academic Area
Centers & Initiatives
Results for

Information Environment Perception and Information Processing Behavior: An Empirical Investigation

Charles B. Stabell
1977

This study investigates the relationship between integrative complexity of managers’ perception of their information environment and the volume, breadth, and balance of their use of information sources. Twenty-nine portfolio managers participated…

An Application of Regression Smoothing for Forecasting Customer Utility Bills

Charles P. Bonini (1933–2025), James R. Freeland
1976

This paper develops the methodology for regression smoothing models and then applies it to the problem of forecasting utility usage rates for individual customers in a city in Northern California. A class of models which use regression as a…

Implementation of an Interactive Graphics Model for Design of School Boundaries

Charles A. Holloway, Patrick Mantey
1976

This paper contains a description of an interactive graphics model for the design of school boundaries which has been implemented in two settings. The first involved a school district in which the Superintendent and his staff used the system to…

Optimal Extrapolations for Discounted Finite Markov Reward Chains

Evan L. Porteus, John C. Totten
1976

Extrapolations are considered for use in conjunction with iterative methods for finding the infinite horizon values for discounted finite Markov reward chains. The iterative methods considered include the Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel, and successive over…

Seam, An Interactive File Simulator

Charles B. Stabell, Jorge J. Morales
1976

SEAM is an interactive file simulator for the evaluation of file alternatives. The simulator focuses on the storages space and access time tradeoffs that are affected by the choice of file organization, access methods and direct access storage…

Temporal Resolution of Uncertainty and Dynamic Choice Theory

David M. Kreps, Evan L. Porteus
1976

We consider dynamic choice behavior under conditions of uncertainty, with emphasis on the timing of the resolution of uncertainty. Choice behavior in which an individual distinguishes between lotteries based on the times at which their…

The Evolving Concept of Optimality

Peter G. W. Keen
1976

An Experiment in Computing the Expected Discounted Return in a Finite Markov Chain

Evan L. Porteus, John C. Totten
1975

An experiment with a certain transformation, leading to a new iterative method, was carried out with the intent of speeding the computation of the infinite horizon expected discounted return in a finite Markov chain. At first the method seemed…

Analysis of Linear Programs By Sequential Projection

Markku Kallio, Evan L. Porteus
1975

We apply what we call sequential projection to reformulate a block triangular linear program as a recursive optimization problem. We approximate the return function at each stage of the recursion by using either inner or outer linearization, and…

Design and Implementation of Decision Support Systems: Some Implications of a Recent Study

Charles B. Stabell
1975

This paper is an evaluation and critique of the Decision Support System (DSS) design and implementation methodology proposed by Gerrity (1970, 1971). A recent study (Stabell, 1974) of a system for portfolio management which was produced using…

Estimating Computational Effort for Linear Programming Algorithms

Markku Kallio, Evan L. Porteus
1975

Abstract not available.

Estimation Using General Convex or Concave Functions

Charles A. Holloway
1975

The estimation of an inner-linearized approximation to a general convex or concave function with n independent variables is formulated as a concave programming problem. An algorithmic procedure, based on relaxation, which generates constraints as…

Extrapolations for Iterative Methods of Solving M-Matrix Equations

John C. Totten, Evan L. Porteus
1975

Abstract not available.

A Forecasting Model for Hotel Occupancy Rates

James R. Freeland
1975

Although in 1973 the average nationwide occupancy rate for hotels and motels was 61%, this rate fluctuates widely based on the time of year and the specific hotel or motel. The purpose of this paper is to present a short range forecasting…

Heuristic Scheduling and Priority Implementation Procedures for a Dynamic Job Shop Model

Charles A. Holloway, Rosser Nelson, Ruby Wong
1975

The problem considered is the scheduling of a job shop with job due dates, intermittent job arrivals, and statistical processing times. Centralized scheduling uses a sequence of static problems for generating priorities at review times. The…

A Note on the Relation Between the Generalized GUB-Technique and Dantzig-Wolfe Decomposition

Markku Kallio, Evan L. Porteus
1975

Although the generalized GUBtechnique (GGUB) conceptually is very different from DantzigWolfe decomposition (DW), we show that these methods are very much alike computationally. Our purpose is to provide insight into the close relationship…

On Optimal Dividend and Liquidation Policies for the Firm, II: Optimality of LRHD Policies

Evan L. Porteus
1975

The study of optimal dividend, reinvestment, and liquidation policies for a single asset firm is continued. By assuming roughly that the probability distribution of net asset changes is PF2, that its mode is not too low, and that the probability…

On the Decomposition of the Municipal Cash Management Problem Using an Interactive Approach

Charles A. Holloway, Alan Henricks, Joellyn Murphy
1975

Decomposition of the municipal cash management problem into monthly and daily decisions is considered and conditions presented which guarantee that the decomposition is well defined. Under certain conditions, infeasibilities at the daily level…

On the Optimality of Structured Policies in Countable Stage Decision Processes

Evan L. Porteus
1975

Multi-stage decision processes are considered, in notation which is an outgrowth of that introduced by Denardo [l0]. Certain Markov decision processes, stochastic games, and risk-sensitive Markov decision processes are formulated in this notation…

On the Optimality of Structured Policies in Countable Stage Decision Processes, III: Regular Terminal Value Functions

Evan L. Porteus
1975

The study of structured countable stage decision processes is continued. Rather than requiring the terminal value functions to be what are called regular-structured [6], we only require them to be regular. Since the infinite horizon values are…