This would be a paragraph summarizing the subjects covered in this research paper. It would include a brief summary of the research.  – Author.

This document outlines a proposed research project involving the management of information asymmetries in electronic hierarchies. Specifically, the project tries to assess how a procurement firm may sustain a hierarchy knowing that the benefits of staying with this hierarchy become more uncertain over time. I argue that the procurement firm may use its position as an intermediary to manage information asymmetries among their partners to estimate the benefits of not switching from a hierarchy to a market. Furthermore, the efficacy of managing information asymmetries may be exacerbated as traditional hierarchies migrate to electronic hierarchies. This research project involves the empirical investigation of an intermediary, Avendra, and its establishment of a hierarchy. I will use the pricing information that Avendra has shared with the University of Maryland to conduct this research.

The Internet has the ability to bring together large numbers of buyers and sellers, allowing for wide-scale market coverage. However, this technology may result in greater trust problems than exist in corresponding brick-and-mortar markets, due to a lack of information about product quality or seller/buyer honesty.  In general, buyers and sellers in Internet markets often may not have personal knowledge of their trading partners or may not have engaged in previous transactions with their partners.  Product information, as well as information on buyers and sellers, may be selectively disclosed, increasing the possibility of fraud or other dishonest behaviors. This research focuses on the mitigation of dishonest or fraudulent behaviors through the use of online feedback systems.

The web has had a very significant impact on automotive retailing. One of the key developments has been the explosion of product and price information on the web – both through manufacturers and third-part intermediaries. More than half of all car buyers in 2000, used the Internet to help them make their purchase decision, and by 2003, more than 80% of all buyers would have used the Internet to purchase a car online. According to Forrester Research, by 2003 the Internet would influence 8 million new car purchases with 470,000 cars sold entirely over the Internet from start to end of transaction. The Web provides a new channel for both OEMs as well as dealers to not only inform but also influence consumer preferences and purchase decisions as well as to maintain and develop an ongoing relationship with them.

There is considerable interest in solving the so-called winner determination problem in combinatorial auctions. Because of the combinatorial nature of the problem, the problem is difficult for two reasons. First, a bidder in an auction has an exponential number of combinations that he can express bids on. Consequently, a bidder wanting to bid on every possible combination needs to submit an exponential number of bids. Second, the winner determination problem is NP-hard, meaning (in layman's terms) that rapid solution of large-scale problems is difficult. We propose an ordered bid expression scheme that approximates bidders valuations on bundles of objects. This ordering scheme is quite general and permits bidders to express succinctly in matrix form bids on all combinations of objects. Additionally, we develop a network model for the problem, which is computationally viable to solve (with commercial optimization packqages like CPLEX etc). We propose to (i) investigate the quality of the ordered bid approximation scheme, (ii) develop an understanding of conditions under which the ordered bidding expression scheme accurately models a bidders preference, (iii) develop computationally efficient optimization software to solve large-scale winner determination problems in a reasonable amount of time,  (iv) develop ascending auctions for the Restricted Preference Combinatorial Auction.

Professors, journalists, doctors, and people from all occupations are constantly writing and publishing different documents, such as press releases, journals, books, research papers, and articles. The problem facing some of these professionals is the time wasted on proofreading for spelling, grammar usage, and style that meet the publication guidelines. Over the years, the use of the Internet has caused increased use of virtual means to exchange information both domestically and over international boundaries. Globalization has led to a need for translation of information between languages.