5,331 research outputs found

    Traveling salesmen in the presence of competition

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    AbstractWe propose the “competing salesmen problem” (CSP), a two-player competitive version of the classical traveling salesman problem. This problem arises when considering two competing salesmen instead of just one. The concern for a shortest tour is replaced by the necessity to reach any of the customers before the opponent does.In particular, we consider the situation where players take turns, moving along one edge at a time within a graph G=(V,E). The set of customers is given by a subset VC⊆V of the vertices. At any given time, both players know of their opponent's position. A player wins if he is able to reach a majority of the vertices in VC before the opponent does.We prove that the CSP is PSPACE-complete, even if the graph is bipartite, and both players start at distance 2 from each other. Furthermore, we show that the starting player may not be able to avoid losing the game, even if both players start from the same vertex. However, for the case of bipartite graphs, we show that the starting player always can avoid a loss. On the other hand, we show that the second player can avoid to lose by more than one customer, when play takes place on a graph that is a tree T, and VC consists of leaves of T. It is unclear whether a polynomial strategy exists for any of the two players to force this outcome. For the case where T is a star (i.e., a tree with only one vertex of degree higher than two) and VC consists of n leaves of T, we give a simple and fast strategy which is optimal for both players. If VC consists not only of leaves, we point out that the situation is more involved

    From commercial travellers to sales representatives: the evolution of the sales profession in Britain, 1930s to 1960s

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    In analysing the development of modern marketing, business historians have focused on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States and Europe. This paper reviews the debates about the sources and timing of key changes in relation to the role of commercial travellers or travelling salesmen in Britain. It explores the later evolution from the 1930s to the 1960s with the transition to sales representatives, highlighting the gradual process of change and the hesitant, often negative, attitudes of managers and salesmen towards new ways of working

    'Slowly becoming sales promotion men?': Negotiating the career of the sales representative in Britain, 1920s–1970s

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    The commercial traveler, or traveling salesman, was an agent of commercialism and modernization as well as a stock character in British popular culture. To C. Wright Mills, salesmen faced particularly challenging demands to conform to managerial direction. This article examines how British salesmen negotiated their occupational identity during the twentieth century. Developments in marketing, corporate growth, and periods of war and recession all challenged salesmen’s status and autonomy. These influences prompted a lengthy and recurring debate about how best to present, defend, and justify their work and identity. New marketing techniques and management systems evolved steadily, rather than producing sudden or uniform changes in the ways in which salesmen worked. Their culture of enterprise and individualism persisted, in part as it was shared by employers and managers. The impact of new marketing methods proved greatest in confectionery, tobacco, and other consumer goods trades as sales of branded, packaged goods expanded. Even then, salesmen contributed to shaping their work and occupational identity, proving unable to establish professional credentials and dividing over whether adopting trade union methods could improve their position

    An Extensive Analysis of the Business and Economic Climate of McMinnville, Oregon from 1895-1910

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    This report provides an analysis of the dominant industries and consumer culture of McMinnville, Oregon during the time period 1895 to 1910. It provides an array of historic photographs, maps, advertisements, census information, anecdotes, and excavation data to formulate a unique and extensive review of McMinnville\u27s business and economic history during a primary period of growth

    Sales personnel administration

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    Solving Competitive Traveling Salesman Problem Using Gray Wolf Optimization Algorithm

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    In this paper a Gray Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm is presented to solve the Competitive Traveling Salesman Problem (CTSP). In CTSP, there are numbers of non-cooperative salesmen their goal is visiting a larger possible number of cities with lowest cost and most gained benefit. Each salesman will get a benefit when he visits unvisited city before all other salesmen. Two approaches have been used in this paper, the first one called static approach, it is mean evenly divides the cities among salesmen. The second approach is called parallel at which all cities are available to all salesmen and each salesman tries to visit as much as possible of the unvisited cities. The algorithms are executed for 1000 times and the results prove that the GWO is very efficient giving an indication of the superiority of GWO in solving CTSP

    Armco Inc. v. Hardesty

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    The control of industrial sales operations

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    With selling becoming so competitive in the past quarter century, managerial control over the sales organization is necessary for survivals Essentially, controls cover the regulation and administration of territories, expenses, and the measurement of performance. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the various phases of controls, the many plans which can be applied, and the advantages and disadvantages of these plans. Emphasis is placed on the case studies of some of the many firms which have put these control programs to work successfully. This thesis is intended for management executives, sales managers, and sales staff executives in equipping themselves for the perplexing problems in administering sales policies in the field. The author wishes to acknowledge with thanks the evaluation of the thesis and suggestions offered by Mr. Joseph F. Pellechia, Sales Manager, Chemical and Power Products, Inc. The many suggestions and helpfulness of Dr. William J. Jaffe of Newark College of Engineering during the preparation of this paper is gratefully appreciated. These acknowledgements would not be complete without the author expressing his appreciation to his wife, Gladys, not only for the preparation of the manuscript, but above all for her forebearance and encouragement in making this thesis possible. Herbert Gieser Union, New Jersey May 1, 1957

    Missouri Use Tax--Liability of Out of State Vendors

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