A Quantitative Concession-Based Classification Method of Bidding Strategies

Abstract

In this chapter, we cover the last agent strategy component of the BOA architecture of Chap. 3, namely the bidding strategy; i.e., the strategy component that decides the concessions to be made during the negotiation. Every negotiator needs to make concessions to successfully reach an agreement, and the willingness to do so depends in large part on the opponent. A concession by the opponent may be reciprocated, but the negotiation process may also be frustrated if the opponent does not concede at all. This process of concession making is a central theme in many automated negotiation strategies. In this chapter, we present a quantitative classification method of negotiation strategies that measures the willingness of an agent to concede against different types of opponents. We classify some well-known negotiating strategies with respect to their concession behavior, including the ANAC agents we described in Appendix B. We show that our technique makes it easy to identify the main characteristics of negotiation agents, and that it can be used to group negotiation strategies into four categories with common negotiation characteristics, namely Inverter, Conceder, Competitor, and Matcher. We are able to conclude, among other things, that different kinds of opponents call for adopting a different negotiation orientation. Our analysis allows us to highlight several interesting insights for the broader automated negotiation community. In particular, we show that the most adaptive negotiation strategies are not necessarily the ones that win the competition.