Bundling of the values of variables in a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) as the search proceeds is an abstraction mechanism that yields a compact representation of the solution space. We have previously established that, in spite of the effort of recomputing the bundles, dynamic bundling is never less effective than static bundling and nonbundling search strategies. Objections were raised...

For many high-tech and Internet-related products, utility to consumers depends in part on the size of the user base, a phenomenon called network externality. A firm with a portfolio of these and other products – that are often asymmetric in their degree of network externality or marginal cost – may have to look beyond the traditional strategies of pure components, pure bundling and mixed bundli...

The distribution and consumption of media, entertainment, software, and other information goods has transformed in recent years. Consumers demand access on multiple devices, and content providers have responded with different strategies, ranging from independent pricing on each device to a single price for access to all devices. I frame the multi-device design problem as a choice between pure b...

Despite the tremendous success of BitTorrent, its swarming system suffers from a fundamental limitation: lower or no availability of unpopular contents. Recently, Menasche et al. has shown that bundling 1 is a promising solution to mitigate this availability problem; it improves the availability and reduces download times for unpopular contents by combining multiple files into a single swarm. T...

We investigate how the performance of search for solving finite constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) is affected by the level of interchangeability embedded in the problem. First, we describe a generator of random CSPs that allows us to control the level of interchangeability in an instance. Then we study how the varying level of interchangeability affects the performance of search for findi...

In energy-aware design, especially for systems with uncertain power sources, asynchronous computation loads which can function under variable power supply have many potential advantages. Fully safe asynchronous loads based on delay insensitivity (DI), however, tend to suffer power and size penalties. As a compromise, delay bundling has been widely used in asynchronous computation, but tradition...

In this paper, we describe bundling, a technique for the transfer of files over a network. The goal of bundling is to group together files that tend to be needed in the same program execution and that are loaded close together. We describe an algorithm for dividing a collection of files into bundles based on profiles of file-loading behavior. Our motivation for bundling is to improve the perfor...

We study the static and dynamic implications of non-linear pricing schemes (i.e., bundling) for otherwise unrelated products but for multimarket contact. Bundling is always present in competition but unlikely in a cartel agreement. Although it brings extra profits to the cartel –sometimes charging a premium rather than a discount for the bundle–, bundling makes deviation from the agreement far ...

We show that bundling is the optimal pricing strategy for a base good monopolist who also supplies a supplemental good under zero marginal cost of production. Without the exit of the rival firm, bundling is a profitable strategy because it increases the profits in the base good market. We show that bundling lowers social welfare as well as rival firms’ profit if the supplemental goods are close...

Offering service bundles to the market is a promising option for service providers to strengthen their competitive advantages, cope with dynamic market conditions and deal with heterogeneous consumer demand. Although the expected positive effects of bundling strategies and pricing considerations for bundles are covered well by the available literature, limited guidance can be found regarding th...