This book is the result of my research perfonned at the University Kiel
under the supervision of Professor Dr. Andreas Drexl. I am very grateful
to him for suggesting the subject as well as for his guidance and
support during the preparation. Professor Dr. Klaus Brockhoff deserves
thanks for under- taking the task of the secondary assessment. The
Institut fur Betriebswirtschaftslehre in Kiel and especially my col-
leagues Dr. Knut Haase, Carsten Jordan, AlfKimrns, and Dr. Frank
Salewski provided a stimulating environment. Particularly, I am indebted
to Dr. Arno Sprecher and Andreas Schinner. The results of Chapter 2 and
3, respectively, are outcome of joint research with Arno; Andreas
proof-read the entire manuscript. Furthennore, I would like to express
my gratitude to Prof. Dr. Erik Demeulemeester, Prof Dr. James H.
Patterson, Prof Dr. Roman Slowinski, and Prof Dr. Ramon Alvarez-Valdes
for the valuable help they provided with suggestions, papers, and
computer programs. I, As to the technical realisation of this book, lowe
thanks to Reimer Karlsen for coding and impl menting parts of the
algorithms, to Marc Schumann for drawing all figures, to Ina Kantowski
who looked after the literature, and to Uwe Penke for providing a
ready-to-use computer-laboratory. The gratitude that I feel towards my
family requires no further comments.