Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2008

Abstract

We take advantage of recent advances in optimization methods and computer hardware to identify globally optimal solutions of product line design problems that are too large for complete enumeration. We then use this guarantee of global optimality to benchmark the performance of more practical heuristic methods. We use two sources of data: (1) a conjoint study previously conducted for a real product line design problem, and (2) simulated problems of various sizes. For both data sources, several of the heuristic methods consistently find optimal or near-optimal solutions, including simulated annealing, divide-and-conquer, product-swapping, and genetic algorithms.

Comments

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Management Science, volume 54, issue 9, in 2008 following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at DOI:10.1287/mnsc.1080.0864

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

INFORMS

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.