Competitive bidding is a common practice in business. The main aim of this research is to develop a practical bidding model. This includes studying existing bidding models used by organisations and verifying the developed model. Various factors have been identified and analysed in order to identify the weight and ranking order of each factor in terms of its influence on the bid mark up size. Interviews have been conducted to explore the current practical practice in setting mark up size in Saudi Arabia and to identify factors that may influence bid mark up size. In addition, a questionnaire has been used to identify each factor’s level of importance in Saudi Arabia. The findings have been used to establish a ranking order of factors in terms of their influence on bidding decisions based on contractors' size and main client. An important discovery is that the level of importance and rank of factors that influence bid mark up size differ based on contractors' characteristics and main client. The characteristic which has been investigated in this research is the size of the contractor. As a result, a bidding model to determine mark up size based on contractors' size and main clients has been developed. The proposed model has been tested and proved accurate in simulating the contractors’ decisions.

There is a growing field of literature concerning the staging, management and planning for large scale sports events; the evaluation of these events and the reasons why nations, but more recently cities, attempt to host these events, but few studies have attempted to provide a theoretically informed analysis of the processes by which these decisions are made. This study builds upon those existing studies in this area which outlined a method for exploring decisions to host, but furthers the analysis through the consideration of policy models, most notably the Multiple Streams Framework (Kingdon, 1984), in order to provide a sophisticated understanding of how such policy decisions are taken at the local level. Within the context of a critical realist epistemology, case studies of three United Kingdom bids (Sheffield s bid for the 1991 Universiade; Manchester s bid for the 2000 Olympic Games and Glasgow s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games) were undertaken. Content analysis of documents, triangulated with semi-structured interviews with the majority of key actors involved in, and excluded from, the processes were carried out in order for geographical, methodological and theoretical triangulation to be undertaken. The three bids were selected from across a twenty year period in order to test the hypothesis that the decision-making process for events would had become more and centrally-led over time. The results indicate that, while no analytical framework provides a perfect fit , the Multiple Streams Framework and its focus on policy entrepreneurialism is highly useful in explaining the elevation of these events onto local political agendas. Despite the increased centralisation of United Kingdom sport policy, local/regional actors were able to operate with surprising freedom and take advantage of apparent coincidences in order to achieve their objectives. The wider implications of these results include providing a stimulus for researchers to build upon the limited body of literature that applies policy theory to sports policy issues and also to stimulate research in the international context.

由於近年國內承銷價之訂定大多採議定的方式，由發行公司與承銷商根據發行公司與採樣公司的每股稅後純益，本益比，每股股利加以設算參考價共同議定。上述設定價格可能無法反應市場供需，將造成股價的穩定。因而有些專家學者建議以競價拍賣取代現行議價，因此本研究乃探討承銷商在競價拍賣下之策略行為與可能面臨的狀況。

Reverse auction bidding is an online auction system. A purchaser's primary objective in using a reverse auction is to obtain the lowest possible bid for goods and services on a construction project. With this type of bidding, it is normal that the purchaser will only consider price, instead of a bidders' work history and experience. As a reverse auction is an online service, the common misperception is that a purchaser can reach a broader market to obtain the lowest possible price. It is a controversial bidding system. No previous research has been undertaken by the Texas A&M University Reverse Auction Bidding study group into potential owner interference with the bidding system for a reverse auction. Six bidders were asked to participate in the Reverse Auction Bidding process for a series of construction projects in Houston. Each participant was also asked to complete a Keirsey Temperament Sorter Test type I and II to determine each participant's personality. After the tests, the six participants competed in an online reverse auction bidding game. The primary objective of this research is to analyze the impact of an owner's interference in a reverse auction bidding scenario. In this test, one of the six bidders acted as the owner's surrogate to interfere with an ethical process and reduce the owner's costs. The other five bidders were unaware of the surrogate's role in the bidding. The primary directive given to the surrogate bidder was to drive down the cost of the projects. The results for the research study show that the owner's surrogate can affect the bidding process. Interference results in reduced returns for the bidders when compared to an uncompromised bidding scenario. It is clear that the method used is unethical.

Reverse Auction Bidding (RAB) study into the construction industry commenced at Texas AandM (TAMU) University in 2004 from the work of a graduate student who was interested in the reasons for RAB being considered unethical by some. This thesis is the eleventh study into Reverse Auction Bidding building on the work of the previous researchers. Previous case studies investigated a number of different competitive situations ranging from three to ten players. In the last few studies, the bidding behavior and performance of participants in the RAB process is being observed with respect to their personality. Personality for each player is tested using the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) test. The KTS describes four major personalities and four role variants in each of the personalities, summing up to sixteen role variants. There appears at this stage a strong correlation between personality type and game performance. This study extends the work on the Guardian personality type to investigate the four sub-types of this personality. This study builds on the previous work by analyzing the four different Guardian role variants being Provider, Protector, Inspector and Supervisor. The aim of the research is to investigate whether there is a difference in game returns between the personality type from within this group. The study involves a game scenario involving a facility manager hiring the contractors who submit the lowest bid for the assumed renovation project. The study also gives the contractor a modified KTS questionnaire that can be used by them for hiring an individual for the position of an estimator with a competent personality. The individuals were selected from undergraduate Construction Science students with limited experience. The game lasted for nine rounds, with the statistical results of the bidding and contract data showing patterns similar to the previous studies. The results show us that the individuals with a role variant of Providers provided the highest return in this case study, although a single case study is insufficient to draw formal conclusions on this matter, the result points to future research.

The on-line auction has become an important issue in Taiwan, due to the intense competition between e-Bay and Yahoo! auction. However the relative researches in Taiwan hasn¡¦t analyzed the bidding strategies of on-line auction bidders in detail. Therefore after reviewing relative literature, the motivation of using on-line auction, the characteristics of personality, the experience of internet and the involvement of product were saw as independent variables to discuss their relationships with bidding strategies, including the time of entering, the increment of bid, the numbers of bid and the degree of insistence in this research. Discovering the main factors affecting the time of entering are the experience of using on-line auction and the rating of bidder; the degree of exocentric in personality can affect the increment of bid; the motivation of using on-line auction and the involvement of product can affect the numbers of bid and the degree of insistence. Hence we can understand these four strategies were affected by different factors, and the forming of entire bidding strategies is very complicated. Going a step further, these four strategies were used to proceed cluster analysis, dividing the bidders into three groups¡G1. amateur bidders; 2. snipers; 3. impulsive bidders.

Randomly scattered sensors may cause sensing holes and redundant sensors. In carrier-based sensor relocation, mobile robots (with limited capacity to carry sensors) pick up additional or redundant sensors and relocate them at sensing holes. In the only known localized algorithm, robots randomly traverse field and act based on identified pair of spare sensor and coverage hole. We propose a Market-based Sensor Relocation (MSR) algorithm, which optimizes sensor deployment location, and introduces bidding and coordinating among neighboring robots. Sensors along the boundary of each hole elect one of them as the representative, which bids to neighboring robots for hole filling service. Robot randomly explores by applying Least Recently Visited policy. It chooses the best bid according to Cost over Progress ratio and fetches a spare sensor nearby to cover the corresponding sensing hole. Robots within communication range share their tasks to search for better possible solutions. Simulation shows that MSR outperforms the existing competing algorithm G-R3S2 significantly on total robot traversed path and energy, and time to cover holes, slightly on number of sensors needed to cover the hole, and the cost of additional messages for bidding and deployment location sharing.

nÃo hà / A presente dissertaÃÃo trata de um dos temas mais importantes na Ãrea de licitaÃÃes pÃblicas no Brasil, o pregÃo eletrÃnico. Espera-se que uma mudanÃa de uma estrutura de licitaÃÃo tradicional, baseada em convite e tomada de preÃos, para o pregÃo eletrÃnico melhore a eficiÃncia das contrataÃÃes e gere uma economia maior para os cofres pÃblicos. Esta hipÃtese à testada neste trabalho utilizando dados extraÃdos de licitaÃÃes tendo como beneficiÃria a Secretaria da SaÃde do Estado do CearÃ. TrÃs modelos de regressÃo linear mÃltipla foram utilizados nÃo apenas para testar a hipÃtese que a mudanÃa de modalidade traz mais economias para o governo, mas tambÃm para identificar que fatores influenciam no diferencial entre preÃo de referÃncia e preÃo de contrataÃÃo. Os resultados dos pregÃes eletrÃnicos mostram um aumento na economia mÃdia variando entre 25 e 31 pontos percentuais quando comparadas com as licitaÃÃes tradicionais. / The present dissertation addresses one of the most important themes in the area of public bids in Brazil, the electronic bidding. It expectative that change by a structure of traditional bidding, based at invitation and taking from price, for the electronic bidding improve an efficiency the contractions and produce biggest economy to publics cofferes. This hypothesis is test in this work utilizing whether basic fact extract of bids having how beneficent the Secretariat the Health the State the CearÃ. Three models of linear regression multiple were used not only for to test the hypothesis what a change the modality bring more economy for government, but also for to identify what factores influenced in the differentiate between price the reference and price the contraction. The results the electronic bidding show one increase in the mean economy varing between 25 and 31 points percentage when compare with the traditional bidding.

The Olympic Games have become one of the world’s largest and most popular sporting events. With its massive scale, the costs that come with hosting the Games are elevating to unprecedented levels, leaving host cities with massive financial debt. So why do cities continue to bid for the rights to host the Games? In this paper I will attempt to answer this question by providing an overview of the bidding process and the economic impact of the Games and I will argue that the costs of hosting the Olympics are often underestimated while the benefits are greatly overestimated. I will then provide an alternative direction for the Olympic movement.

Randomly scattered sensors may cause sensing holes and redundant sensors. In carrier-based sensor relocation, mobile robots (with limited capacity to carry sensors) pick up additional or redundant sensors and relocate them at sensing holes. In the only known localized algorithm, robots randomly traverse field and act based on identified pair of spare sensor and coverage hole. We propose a Market-based Sensor Relocation (MSR) algorithm, which optimizes sensor deployment location, and introduces bidding and coordinating among neighboring robots. Sensors along the boundary of each hole elect one of them as the representative, which bids to neighboring robots for hole filling service. Robot randomly explores by applying Least Recently Visited policy. It chooses the best bid according to Cost over Progress ratio and fetches a spare sensor nearby to cover the corresponding sensing hole. Robots within communication range share their tasks to search for better possible solutions. Simulation shows that MSR outperforms the existing competing algorithm G-R3S2 significantly on total robot traversed path and energy, and time to cover holes, slightly on number of sensors needed to cover the hole, and the cost of additional messages for bidding and deployment location sharing.