Simulated annealing optimization for two-mode partitioning

The Alternating Exchanges method proposed by Gaul, Schader (1996) for two-mode partitioning by minimizing an additive criterion, is based on a local-search strategy, and hence it can find local optima of the criterion. In order to overcome these local minima we propose to use the Metropolis rule for acceptance of possible transfers and a simulated annealing-type algorithm for two-mode nonoverlapping partitioning. We show the performance of the algorithm by some examples, the results obtained are encouraging. We also prove the monotonicity of the method of Baler et al. (1997) for two-mode partitioning based in a k-means scheme.