A dynamic, optimal approach for multi-issue negotiation under time constraints

Abstract

Multi-issue negotiation can lead negotiators to bi-beneficial outcomes which are not applicable in single issue negotiation. In a multi-issue negotiation, a negotiator’s preference has a significant impact on the negotiation result. Most existing multi-issue negotiation strategies are based on an assumption that a negotiator will fix its predefined preference throughout a negotiation, and the negotiator’s concern on negotiated issues will not be impacted for any reason. Very little work has been done to consider a situation in which a negotiator may modify its preference during a negotiation. The motivation of this paper is to introduce a novel optimal bi-lateral multi-issue negotiation approach to handle the situation where a negotiator may modify its preference dynamically during a negotiation, and to lead the negotiation result to a bi-beneficial outcome. In order to do so, an agent behavior prediction method, an agent preference prediction method, and two optimal offer generation methods are proposed. Experimental results indicate good performance of all proposed methods, and a significant improvement is achieved on all negotiators’ utilities.