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Abstract:
The progressive negotiation model is one approach for organizing multiagent negotiations among autonomous utility-maximizing agents. The model specifies how agents are divided into a number of subgroups, and how sub-coalitions emerge after sub-negotiations take place among agents in each of these subgroups progressively. These sub-coalitions will then participate in the subsequent sub-negotiation until a grand coalition involving all agents is formed. While the effect of subgroup size on the solution quality (in terms of efficiency and Pareto optimality) has been investigated, little is known on how other design settings in progressive negotiations would affect the solution in terms of time and individual utilities. This paper reports on work we have done to analyze formally the relationships between the order of the sub-negotiations (i.e. participation points) and agents’ self-utilities, and between the subgroup size and negotiation time.