Abstract We study delays in capital accumulation models. Our contribution is threefold. First, we identify a class of models that can be transformed into standard optimal control models without delay. Second, in the single state versions of these models the state trajectory is monotonic in the...

This paper considers a firm, which has to acquire a certain amount of pollution control equipment in order to comply with government pollution standards. Due to political battles and lobbying efforts, the compliance date and the date when it is announced are not known in advance. Furthermore,...

This paper refers to a hierarchical production planning system in a make-to-order environment. A challenging task in this context is to determine good production parameter settings in order to benefit from established planning methods. We present a framework for hierarchical production planning...

This work deals with a scheduling problem of a real-world production process in the metal–working industry. The production process can be described as an offline stochastic flexible flow-shop problem with limited buffers. In a first step, we analyze a simplified model and develop a variable...

Software can be distributed closed source (proprietary) or open source (developed collaboratively). While a firm cannot sell open source software, and so loses potential sales revenue, the open source software development process can have a substantial positive impact on the quality of a...

We present a novel model of corruption dynamics in the form of a nonlinear optimal dynamic control problem. It has a tipping point, but one whose origins and character are distinct from that in the classic Schelling (1978) model. The decision maker choosing a level of corruption is the chief or...

Since the end of the seventies Skiba points have been studied in infinite time optimal control problems with multiple steady states. At such a Skiba point the decision maker is indifferent between choosing trajectories that approach different steady states. This paper extends this theory towards...

This paper considers a class of optimal control problems that allows jumps in the state variable. We present the necessary optimality conditions of the Impulse Control Maximum Principle based on the current value formulation. By reviewing the existing impulse control models in the literature, we...

This paper presents a review of recent developments that have taken place in the area of dynamic optimal control models in advertising subsequent to the comprehensive survey of the literature by Sethi in 1977. The basic problem underlying these models is that of determining optimal advertising...