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Research

Journal Publications:

Channel choice and incentives in cadaveric organ supply chain. European Journal of Operational Research. 302(3), 1202-1214, 2022 (with Akansha Misra and Haritha Saranga)

Abstract: The low rate of cadaveric organ donation is a challenge that most countries struggle with. In this study, we examine factors and alternate decision-making setups that influence the supply of cadaveric organs, and identify possible incentives and mechanisms to increase it. We develop a model that captures the interaction between supply-side entities – a coordinating organisation, whose objective is to maximise the social welfare, and a hospital that performs the organ retrieval. Under different setups, we evaluate the two levers available to the coordinating organisation, its own effort and reimbursement fees, which can be used to induce higher effort by hospitals. We contrast these decisions and payoffs to determine if any benefits are forthcoming from the coordinating organisation’s effort commitment. We also examine the hospital’s optimal channel decision in the presence of an unauthorised channel and a low-paying authorised channel, and derive the conditions under which the hospital would prefer the authorised channel over the unauthorised channel. Our results provide insights that lead to better outcomes for the players, and result in an improved organ donation rate. Read more

A pricing mechanism to improve capacity utilization in ridesharing. Journal of the Operational Research Society. 73(4), 741-753, 2022 (with Srikanth Krishnaprasad)

Abstract: Low vehicle occupancy is an issue faced by many ridesharing platforms. One of the ways to address this issue is to design a pricing mechanism that incentivises riders to join large-size pools. In this study, we propose a pricing mechanism and a decision rule to aid the platforms in achieving high capacity utilisation (forming large-size pools), even in the presence of rider inconveniences. We factor inconveniences due to both detouring and sharing of personal space while designing the mechanism. The proposed mechanism incentivises riders to join the “largest-size” pool and also ensures that no rider benefits at the cost of others. The decision rule helps to identify the right participants to share a ride. We employ cooperative game theory for this study. Read more

Equivalence nucleolus for coalitional games with externalities. Operations Research Letters. 44(2), 219-224, 2016 (with R K Amit)

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to develop a solution concept for the stability of coalitional games with externalities. The existing solution concepts for this class of coalitional games can be empty. Using the partition function form representation, we propose a new solution concept called equivalence nucleolus, which is shown to be unique and always non-empty. Read more

Optimal shelf-space stocking policy using stochastic dominance under supply-driven demand uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, 246(1), 339-342, 2015 (with R K Amit and Peeyush Mehta)

Abstract: In this paper, we develop an optimal shelf-space stocking policy when demand, in addition to the exogenous uncertainty, is influenced by the amount of inventory displayed (supply) on the shelves. Our model exploits stochastic dominance condition; and, we assume that the distribution of realized demand with higher stocking level stochastically dominates the distribution of realized demand with lower stocking level. We show that the critical fractile with endogenous demand may not exceed the critical fractile of the classical newsvendor model. Our computational results validate the optimality of amount of units stocked on the retail shelves. Read more

Conference Presentations:

  1. Game theory in jurisprudence. 5th International Conference on Law and Economics (ICLE 2019), December 28-29, 2019, Bangalore, India
  2. Fairness in pricing decision of a platform with heterogeneous sellers. 23rd Annual International Conference of the Society of Operations Management (SOM 2019), December 20-21, 2019, Kanpur, India
  3. Fair pricing in a two-sided market game. 30th International Conference on Game Theory at Stony Brook (ICGT 2019), July 15 – 19, 2019, New York, USA
  4. Business ecosystems: competition, cooperation, and evolution. Discussion Meeting on Dynamics of Complex Systems (DCS 2019), July 8-12, 2019, Bangalore, India
  5. Cooperative game under risk and externalities. Workshop on Games on Networks and Queues (WGNQ 2019), January 17-18, 2019, Mumbai, India
  6. Analysis of cooperation under risk and externalities. Computer Science – Economics Worksop (CS-Econ Workshop), October 5-6, 2018, Sonepat
  7. Operationalizing the interplays of self-interest, trust, and fairness in sharing the gain from cooperation. Manufacturing and Service Operations Conference 2018 (MSOM 2018), July 1 – 3, 2018, Dallas, USA
  8. *Auctioning licenses to different quality firms. Manufacturing and Service Operations Conference 2018 (MSOM 2018), July 1 – 3, 2018, Dallas, USA
  9. *Balancing concerns of occupancy rate and passenger inconvenience in ridesharing. Manufacturing and Service Operations Conference 2018 (MSOM 2018), July 1 – 3, 2018, Dallas, USA
  10. *Balancing stability and fairness in ridesharing game. 5th PAN IIM World Management Conference (PAN-IIM WMC), Dec 14 – 16, 2017, Lucknow, India
  11. *A cost-sharing mechanism in ridesharing using cooperative game. 11th ISDSI International Conference (ISDSI 2017), Dec 27 – 30, 2017, Tiruchirappalli, India (presented by student)
  12. *Cooperation in service systems with impatient customers. 11th ISDSI International Conference (ISDSI 2017), Dec 27 – 30, 2017, Tiruchirappalli, India
  13. *Application of cooperative game theory to 5G spectrum sharing. 11th ISDSI International Conference (ISDSI 2017), Dec 27 – 30, 2017, Tiruchirappalli, India
  14. On stability of coalitions when externalities and stochasticity co-exist. 28th International Conference on Game Theory at Stony Brook (ICGT 2017), July 17 – 21, 2017, New York, USA
  15. Stable allocation of profit in a Bayesian inventory game. East Asian Game Theory Conference 2017 (EAGT 2017), July 31 – Aug 2, 2017, Singapore
  16. A pricing scheme in ridesharing game. East Asian Game Theory Conference 2017 (EAGT 2017), July 31 – Aug 2, 2017, Singapore
  17. Stability of partition function games with stochastic payoffs. 4th PAN IIM World Management Conference (PAN-IIM WMC), December 13 – 15, 2016, Ahmedabad, India (best doctoral research paper award)
  18. Partition function games with stochastic payoffs. 5th World Congress of the Game Theory Society (GAMES 2016), July 24 – 28, 2016, Maastricht, The Netherlands (accepted, did not attend)
  19. A Cooperative model under risk and externalities. European Meeting on Game Theory (SING11-GTM2015), July 8 – 10, 2015, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
  20. Equivalence nucleolus for coalitional games with externalities. 10th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development (10th ACEGD), December 18 – 20, 2014, New Delhi, India.
  21. Equivalence nucleolus – an application to code sharing alliance in airline industry. 18th Annual International Conference of the Society of Operations Management (XVIII SOM), December 12 – 14, 2014, Roorkee, India.
  22. Equivalence nucleolus for partition function games. 14th Consortium of Students in Management Research (COSMAR’14), November 21 – 22, 2014, Bangalore, India.
  23. Modified bargaining set for coalitional games with externalities. 17th Annual International Conference of the Society of Operations Management (XVII SOM), December 20 – 22, 2013, Chennai, India.
  24. Stability of coalitional games in partition function form. 9th Spain-Italy-Netherlands Meeting on Game Theory (SING9), July 8 – 10, 2013, Vigo, Spain.

*presented by students/co-authors