The significance of bidding, accepting and opponent modeling in automated negotiation

Given the growing interest in automated negotiation, the search for effective strategies has produced a variety of different negotiation agents. Despite their diversity, there is a common structure to their design. A negotiation agent comprises three key components: the bidding strategy, the opponent model and the acceptance criteria. We show that this three-component view of a negotiating architecture not only provides a useful basis for developing such agents but also provides a useful analytical tool. By combining these components in varying ways, we are able to demonstrate the contribution of each component to the overall negotiation result, and thus determine the key contributing components. Moreover, we are able to study the interaction between components and present detailed interaction effects. Furthermore, we find that the bidding strategy in particular is of critical importance to the negotiator's success and far exceeds the importance of opponent preference modeling techniques. Our results contribute to the shaping of a research agenda for negotiating agent design by providing guidelines on how agent developers can spend their time most effectively

An Efficient Protocol for Negotiation over Combinatorial Domains with Incomplete Information

We study the problem of agent-based negotiation in combinatorial domains. It is difficult to reach optimal agreements in bilateral or multi-lateral negotiations when the agents' preferences for the possible alternatives are not common knowledge. Self-interested agents often end up negotiating inefficient agreements in such situations. In this paper, we present a protocol for negotiation in combinatorial domains which can lead rational agents to reach optimal agreements under incomplete information setting. Our proposed protocol enables the negotiating agents to identify efficient solutions using distributed search that visits only a small subspace of the whole outcome space. Moreover, the proposed protocol is sufficiently general that it is applicable to most preference representation models in combinatorial domains. We also present results of experiments that demonstrate the feasibility and computational efficiency of our approach

Efficient Methods for Automated Multi-Issue Negotiation: Negotiating over a Two-Part Tariff

In this article, we consider the novel approach of a seller and customer negotiating bilaterally about a two-part tariff, using autonomous software agents. An advantage of this approach is that win-win opportunities can be generated while keeping the problem of preference elicitation as simple as possible. We develop bargaining strategies that software agents can use to conduct the actual bilateral negotiation on behalf of their owners. We present a decomposition of bargaining strategies into concession strategies and Pareto-efficient-search methods: Concession and Pareto-search strategies focus on the conceding and win-win aspect of bargaining, respectively. An important technical contribution of this article lies in the development of two Pareto-search methods. Computer experiments show, for various concession strategies, that the respective use of these two Pareto-search methods by the two negotiators results in very efficient bargaining outcomes while negotiators concede the amount specified by their concession strategy

The Search Interest in Contract

Parties often do not negotiate for contract terms. Instead, parties search for the products, terms, and contractual counterparties they desire. The traditional negotiation centered view of contract continues to lead courts to try to construe the meaning of the parties where no meaning was negotiated, and to waste time determining the benefits of bargains that were never struck. Further, while courts have ample tools to validate specifically negotiated contract terms, courts lack the tools to respond to searched-for terms. Although the law and literature have long recognized that there is a disconnect between the legal fictions of negotiation and the reality of contracting practice, no theory has emerged to replace fictional negotiation. Therefore, this article develops a new search-oriented theory of contract, and shows that search theory can explain contracting behavior where the fictions of negotiation fail. The article then applies this theory to the common law of contract, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the growing world of internet searches and electronic contracting

The Search Interest in Contract

Parties often do not negotiate for contract terms. Instead, parties search for the products, terms, and contractual counterparties they desire. The traditional negotiation centered view of contract continues to lead courts to try to construe the meaning of the parties where no meaning was negotiated, and to waste time determining the benefits of bargains that were never struck. Further, while courts have ample tools to validate specifically negotiated contract terms, courts lack the tools to respond to searched-for terms. Although the law and literature have long recognized that there is a disconnect between the legal fictions of negotiation and the reality of contracting practice, no theory has emerged to replace fictional negotiation. Therefore, this article develops a new search-oriented theory of contract, and shows that search theory can explain contracting behavior where the fictions of negotiation fail. The article then applies this theory to the common law of contract, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the growing world of internet searches and electronic contracting

Human-Computer Negotiations: A Systematic Evaluation of the Effects of Timespan, Tactic, and Search Mechanism

Artificial Intelligence and Computer Agents are having a substantial impact on our everyday lives. The current paper focuses on the prospects of humans negotiating with computer agents in e-commerce settings. We conducted experiments where the subjects negotiated the purchase of mobile plans with computer agents acting as sellers. Three time-based negotiation tactics and two search mechanisms were employed in synchronous vs. asynchronous sessions. The results suggest that computer agents’ negotiation tactics and search mechanisms have significant effects on both the subjective and objective outcomes of the negotiations, while timespan has marginal effects on the agreement rate of the negotiation

Overcoming the Fixed-Pie Bias in Multi-Issue Negotiation

Multi-issue negotiation may produce mutual beneficial results to both negotiators while single-issue negotiation can not. However, there are difficulties in automating a multi-issue negotiation, since the search space grows dramatically as the number of issues increases. Although many concession strategy learning mechanisms have been proposed to deal with the problem, recent research uncovered that the fixed strategy of concession and the fixed-pie bias are the two major interferences in the automation of multi-issue negotiation. It is suggested that the lack of communication between agents may have impeded information sharing and joint-problem solving possibilities. In this paper, we show that the fixed-pie bias can interfere with the negotiation outcome if there are non-conflicting issues. We propose a new negotiation model and an innovative algorithm that not only allows information to be shared in a controlled way, but also allows the information shared to be effectively used for conducting a systematic search over the negotiation problem space. The combined mechanism is capable of using strategies learned from counter-offers and is immune to the fixed-strategy limitation and the fixed-pie bias. It contributes to the automation of multi-issue negotiation in the context of open and dynamic environments

The Search Interest in Contract

Parties often do not negotiate for contract terms. Instead, parties search for the products, terms, and contractual counterparties they desire. The traditional negotiation-centered view of contract leads courts to try to determine the meaning of the parties where no meaning was negotiated and to waste time determining the benefits of bargains that were never struck. Further, while courts have ample tools to validate specifically negotiated contract terms, they lack the tools to respond to searched-for terms. Although the law and literature have long recognized that there is a disconnect between the legal fictions of negotiation and the reality of contracting practice, no theory has emerged to replace fictional negotiation.Therefore, this Article develops a new search-oriented theory of contract and shows that search theory can explain contracting behavior where the fictions of negotiation fail. This Article then applies search theory to the common law of contract, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the growing world of Internet searches and electronic contracting

Customized Employment: Applying Practical Solutions for Employment Success (Volume 1)

[Excerpt] The Customized Employment process is a flexible blend of strategies, services, and supports designed to increase employment options for job seekers with complex needs through voluntary negotiation of the employment relationship with an employer. The job seeker is the primary source of information and drives the process. The Customized Employment process begins with an exploration phase, which lays the foundation for employment planning. Planning results in a blueprint for the job search where an employment relationship is negotiated to meet the needs of both the job seeker and the employer

Playground of gender : cross-dressing and self-mutilation as negation of gender identity in Tanja Duckers’s Spielzone (1999)

Although it is an outstanding example of writing life as negotiation of gender roles as well as exploration of the body as site of identity constructs, Tanja Dückers’s novel Spielzone, published in 1999, has not yet received the critical attention it deserves. The novel displays an interesting aesthetic technique of representing the milieu of two Berlin districts and their inhabitants, whose identity conflicts can be shown to reflect the state of construction of the urban space before its homogenization through gentrification. Especially with regard to gender identities, Dückers portrays the search for a different lifestyle, which is expressed through a striking focus on aesthetic differentiation and cross-dressing. The protagonists stage masculinity and femininity through a theatrical masquerade, which reveals the construct of gender identities and advocates a postmodern transgender existence. The negotiation of a new identity without binary gender attributions ranges from the negation of traditional role assignments to self-mutilation. In the following paper, Dückers’s text will be analysed as uncanny playground of gender between masquerade and brutal gender embodiment, which nevertheless, with all its negations of conventional values, eventually moves near to a return to traditional patterns.peer-reviewe