Advertising Differential Games: a Review on Models

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Industrial Engineering, IUST, Tehran, Iran

2 Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology

Abstract

During the recent years, various research studies have been conducted on modeling the dynamic advertising process in the business realm. The competitive environment of this process has mostly been modeled using game theory, especially differential games with a capability of modeling the conflict in a dynamic environment. The present study aims to survey various types of differential game modeling and present the research gaps in this domain. To this end, 113 papers published between 1960 and 2019 are reviewed. The papers are classified based on five factors: the equilibrium type ( Nash / Stackelberg ), solution approach ( open-loop/closed-loop/feedback ), certainty state (deterministic /stochastic), the number of players (duopoly/oligopoly), and time horizon (finite/infinite) and are described using pivot charts. These five factors play a pivotal role in solving dynamic differential games. Finally, the key papers and the available research gaps are recognized and recommendations for performing future studies are presented.

Keywords