Standardization problem: Ressource Allocation in a Network

We consider the standardization problem (SP) which can be formulated as follows. It is known demand bi in each type i in {1, 2, ..., n} of items. Production of yi items of the ith type brings a profit fi (yi), where fi is a nondecreasing concave function for each i in {1, 2, ..., n}.It is necessary to satisfy the demand and to maximize the total profit provided that there exist >standardization possibilities< . These possibilities means that some types of items can be replaced by some another types. We introduce generalized standardization problem (GSP) in which titems demand is given as the set of admissible demand vectors. We show that GSP and SP are special cases of the resource allocation problem over a network polymatroid. Ibasing on this observation we propose a polynomial time solution algorithm for GSP and SP.