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Quality Cycles and the Strategic Manipulation of Value

Author

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  • Jonathan P. Caulkins

    (Qatar Campus, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

  • Gustav Feichtinger

    (Research Group for Operations Research and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Argentinierstrasse 8, A-1040 Vienna, Austria)

  • Josef Haunschmied

    (Research Group for Operations Research and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Argentinierstrasse 8, A-1040 Vienna, Austria)

  • Gernot Tragler

    (Research Group for Operations Research and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Argentinierstrasse 8, A-1040 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

We present a two-state, one-control model of a seller's decision about how good a “deal” to give customers when price and quantity are observable, but the customer does not observe quality until after committing to the transaction, so the quality of the bargain affects future demand only indirectly by influencing the reputation of the seller. This situation describes well the markets for many illicit drugs. Analysis reveals two optimal strategies: converging to a unique steady state with a positive sales volume or exploiting the initial customer base by selling cut-rate products until the seller's reputation is so bad that sales go to zero. Numerical analysis with parameters based on the U.S. cocaine market shows that there is a so-called Dechert-Nishimura-Skiba (DNS) curve in the state space, where the seller is indifferent between these two strategies. Convergence to the steady state with positive sales is oscillatory. Because different sellers may be at different phases of the oscillation at any given time, this oscillation implies that a population of homogenous sellers can generate dispersion in market prices---a phenomenon characteristic of drug markets that has been difficult to explain.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan P. Caulkins & Gustav Feichtinger & Josef Haunschmied & Gernot Tragler, 2006. "Quality Cycles and the Strategic Manipulation of Value," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 666-677, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:54:y:2006:i:4:p:666-677
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.1060.0294
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. J. P. Caulkins & R. F. Hartl & G. Tragler & G. Feichtinger, 2001. "Why Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows: Dynamic Model with DNS Curves," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 237-254, November.
    8. Haunschmied, Josef L. & Kort, Peter M. & Hartl, Richard F. & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2003. "A DNS-curve in a two-state capital accumulation model: a numerical analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 701-716, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sam Aflaki & Ioana Popescu, 2014. "Managing Retention in Service Relationships," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(2), pages 415-433, February.
    2. Emmanuelle Fortune-Devlaminckx & Josef Haunschmied, 2010. "Diversity of firm’s life cycle adapted from the firm’s technology investment decision," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 18(4), pages 477-489, December.
    3. Haruvy, Ernan E. & Li, Tao & Sethi, Suresh P., 2012. "Two-stage pricing for custom-made products," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(2), pages 405-414.
    4. Herbert Dawid & Engelbert Dockner & Richard Hartl & Josef Haunschmied & Ulrike Leopold-Wildburger & Mikulas Luptacik & Alexander Mehlmann & Alexia Prskawetz & Marion Rauner & Gerhard Sorger & Gernot T, 2010. "Gustav Feichtinger celebrates his 70th birthday," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 18(4), pages 437-451, December.
    5. Minglin Jiang & Xiaowei Lin & Xideng Zhou & Hongfang Qiao, 2022. "Research on Supply Chain Quality Decision Model Considering Reference Effect and Competition under Different Decision-Making Modes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Caulkins, Jonathan P. & Feichtinger, Gustav & Grass, Dieter & Hartl, Richard F. & Kort, Peter M. & Seidl, Andrea, 2017. "Interaction of pricing, advertising and experience quality: A dynamic analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(3), pages 877-885.
    7. Caulkins, Jonathan P. & Baker, David, 2010. "Cobweb dynamics and price dispersion in illicit drug markets," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 220-230, December.

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