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Bundled discounts: Strategic substitutes or complements?

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  • Brito, Duarte
  • Vasconcelos, Helder

Abstract

Bundled discounts by pairs of otherwise independent firms play an increasingly important role as a strategic tool in several industries. Given that prices of firms competing for the same consumers are strategic complements, one would expect their discounts levels also to be strategic complements. However, in this paper we show that under some circumstances bundled discounts may be strategic substitutes. This occurs under vertically differentiated products where a low quality pair of producers may indeed prefer to lower its discount after an increase in the discount offered by a high quality pair of producers.

Suggested Citation

  • Brito, Duarte & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2014. "Bundled discounts: Strategic substitutes or complements?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 278-282.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:124:y:2014:i:2:p:278-282
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2014.05.031
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joshua S. Gans & Stephen P. King, 2006. "Paying For Loyalty: Product Bundling In Oligopoly," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 43-62, March.
    2. Bulow, Jeremy I & Geanakoplos, John D & Klemperer, Paul D, 1985. "Multimarket Oligopoly: Strategic Substitutes and Complements," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(3), pages 488-511, June.
    3. Jaskold Gabszewicz, J. & Thisse, J. -F., 1979. "Price competition, quality and income disparities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 340-359, June.
    4. Duarte Brito & Helder Vasconcelos, 2015. "Interfirm Bundling and Vertical Product Differentiation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(1), pages 1-27, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hui‐Ling Chung & Jin‐Li Hu & Yan‐Shu Lin, 2022. "The leverage effect of bundling on monopoly power and product quality," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(6), pages 668-688, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bundled discounts; Bilateral bundling; Strategic substitutes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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