Approximately global optimization for assortment problems using piecewise linearization techniques

Recently, Li and Chang proposed an approximate model for assortment problems. Although their model is quite promising to find approximately global solution, too many 0–1 variables are required in their solution process. This paper proposes another way for solving the same problem. The proposed method uses iteratively a technique of piecewise linearization of the quadratic objective function. Numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed method is computationally more efficient than the Li and Chang method.