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Cartelization Through Buyer Groups

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  • Chris Doyle
  • Martijn Han

Abstract

Retailers may enjoy stable cartel rents in their output market through the formation of a buyer group in their input market. A buyer group allows retailers to commit credibly to increased input prices, which serve to reduce combined final output to the monopoly level; increased input costs are then refunded from suppliers to retailers through slotting allowances or rebates. The stability of such an ‘implied cartel’ depends on the retailers’ incentives to source their inputs secretly from a supplier outside of the buyer group arrangement at lower input prices. Cheating is limited if retailers sign exclusive dealing or minimum purchase provisions. We discuss the relevancy of our findings for antitrust policy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Doyle & Martijn Han, 2014. "Cartelization Through Buyer Groups," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(3), pages 255-275, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:44:y:2014:i:3:p:255-275
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-013-9375-y
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry?," Post-Print halshs-03693440, HAL.
    2. Sahuguet, Nicolas & Walckiers, Alexis, 2017. "A theory of hub-and-spoke collusion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 353-370.
    3. Øystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind, 2017. "Upstream Partnerships among Competitors when Size Matters," CESifo Working Paper Series 6512, CESifo.
    4. Allain, Marie-Laure & Avignon, Rémi & Chambolle, Claire, 2020. "Purchasing alliances and product variety," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Armel Jacques, 2019. "Les enjeux du rachat de Vindémia : quelques éléments de théorie économique," Post-Print hal-03546561, HAL.
    6. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry? [Les centrales d’achat : quels enjeux de concurrence ?]," Working Papers halshs-03693375, HAL.
    7. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry? [Formation des groupements d'achat : quels effets sur la concurrence dans le commerce de détail ?]," Working Papers halshs-03693440, HAL.
    8. Liesbeth Colen & Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache & Victoria Daskalova & Kjersti Nes, 2020. "Retail alliances in the agricultural and food supply chain," JRC Research Reports JRC120271, Joint Research Centre.
    9. Koski, Heli, 2018. "How Do Competition Policy and Data Brokers Shape Product Market Competition?," ETLA Working Papers 61, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    10. Armel Jacques, 2020. "Le contrôle des concentrations dans le secteur de la distribution: application au projet de rachat de Vindémia par GBH," Post-Print hal-03546563, HAL.
    11. Xiaona Zheng & Luping Sun & Andy A. Tsay, 2018. "Distribution Channel Strategies and Retailer Collusion in a Supply Chain with Multiple Retailers," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 35(03), pages 1-27, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Buyer groups; Collusion; Cartels; Exclusive dealing; Minimum purchase clauses; Rebates; K21; L13; L41; L42;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • 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
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts

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