IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jecrev/v69y2018i3d10.1111_jere.12186.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategic Product Line Choice Under Asymmetric Demand Structure

Author

Listed:
  • Levent Kutlu

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Alper Nakkas

    (University of Texas at Arlington)

Abstract

We examine strategic product line choices of manufacturers in a stylised duopoly model where products have asymmetric and interdependent market conditions. We characterise the optimal product line decisions and show that manufacturers always prefer to have head-to-head competition (and never segment markets) when product line setup cost is small relative to profitability of the products. When setup costs are high, symmetric manufacturers may prefer to have asymmetric product lines or market segmentation. We show that high setup costs lead to the market segmentation outcome only if there is no significant market size difference and the level of product substitutability is moderate.

Suggested Citation

  • Levent Kutlu & Alper Nakkas, 2018. "Strategic Product Line Choice Under Asymmetric Demand Structure," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 347-359, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jecrev:v:69:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1111_jere.12186
    DOI: 10.1111/jere.12186
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1111/jere.12186
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jere.12186?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rafael Moner‐Colonques & José J. Sempere‐Monerris & Amparo Urbano, 2011. "Product Line Choice in Retail Duopoly," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 777-802, September.
    2. Brander, James A & Eaton, Jonathan, 1984. "Product Line Rivalry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 323-334, June.
    3. Avner Shaked & John Sutton, 1990. "Multiproduct Firms and Market Structure," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(1), pages 45-62, Spring.
    4. Kitamura, Ryoma & Shinkai, Tetsuya, 2015. "Product line strategy within a vertically differentiated duopoly," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 114-117.
    5. Paul W. Dobson & Michael Waterson, 1996. "Product Range and Interfirm Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 317-341, September.
    6. Serguei Netessine & Terry A. Taylor, 2007. "Product Line Design and Production Technology," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 101-117, 01-02.
    7. J. Miguel Villas-Boas, 1998. "Product Line Design for a Distribution Channel," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(2), pages 156-169.
    8. Preyas S. Desai, 2001. "Quality Segmentation in Spatial Markets: When Does Cannibalization Affect Product Line Design?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 265-283, August.
    9. Justin P. Johnson & David P. Myatt, 2003. "Multiproduct Quality Competition: Fighting Brands and Product Line Pruning," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 748-774, June.
    10. Kilsun Kim & Dilip Chhajed, 2002. "Product Design with Multiple Quality-Type Attributes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(11), pages 1502-1511, November.
    11. Wolinsky, Asher, 1986. "The Nature of Competition and the Scope of Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 247-259, March.
    12. Simon P. Anderson & André De Palma, 2006. "Market Performance With Multiproduct Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 95-124, March.
    13. K. Sridhar Moorthy, 1984. "Market Segmentation, Self-Selection, and Product Line Design," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 288-307.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Dong, 2020. "When less is more: Recovery technology investment and segmentation for uptime-centered services," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(1), pages 267-281.
    2. Yunchuan Liu & Tony Haitao Cui, 2010. "The Length of Product Line in Distribution Channels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 474-482, 05-06.
    3. Maxim Sinitsyn, 2016. "Managing Price Promotions Within a Product Line," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 304-318, March.
    4. Terrence August & Duy Dao & Kihoon Kim, 2019. "Market Segmentation and Software Security: Pricing Patching Rights," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4575-4597, October.
    5. Chung, Hwan & Lee, Eunkyu, 2017. "Store Brand Quality and Retailer’s Product Line Design," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(4), pages 527-540.
    6. Bing Jing, 2006. "On the Profitability of Firms in a Differentiated Industry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 248-259, 05-06.
    7. Bing Jing, 2011. "Seller honesty and product line pricing," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 403-427, December.
    8. Xiao, Tiaojun & Xu, Tiantian, 2014. "Pricing and product line strategy in a supply chain with risk-averse players," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 305-315.
    9. Hongmin Li & Scott Webster & Gwangjae Yu, 2020. "Product Design Under Multinomial Logit Choices: Optimization of Quality and Prices in an Evolving Product Line," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1011-1025, September.
    10. Pnina Feldman & Yiangos Papanastasiou & Ella Segev, 2019. "Social Learning and the Design of New Experience Goods," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(5), pages 1502-1519, April.
    11. Ioannis Stamatopoulos & Christos Tzamos, 2019. "Design and Dynamic Pricing of Vertically Differentiated Inventories," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4222-4241, September.
    12. Wong, Hartanto & Kim, Kilsun & Chhajed, Dilip, 2021. "Reducing channel inefficiency in product line design," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    13. Chisholm, Darlene C. & Norman, George, 2012. "Market access and competition in product lines," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 429-435.
    14. Matsubayashi, Nobuo & Ishii, Yasuaki & Watanabe, Kentaro & Yamada, Yoshiyasu, 2009. "Full-line or specialization strategy? The negative effect of product variety on product line strategy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 196(2), pages 795-807, July.
    15. Zhang, Yu & Huang, Min & Tian, Lin & Cai, Gangshu George & Jin, Delong & Fan, Zhiping, 2023. "Manufacturer’s product line selling strategy and add-on policy in product sharing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(3), pages 1332-1343.
    16. Tookanlou, Parisa Bagheri & Wong, Hartanto, 2020. "Determining the optimal customization levels, lead times, and inventory positioning in vertical product differentiation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    17. A. Yeşim Orhun & Sriram Venkataraman & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2016. "Impact of Competition on Product Decisions: Movie Choices of Exhibitors," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 73-92, January.
    18. Yan, Xiaoming & Zhao, Wenhan & Yu, Yugang, 2022. "Optimal product line design with reference price effects," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(3), pages 1045-1062.
    19. Volker Nocke & Stephen Yeaple, 2006. "Globalization and Endogenous Firm Scope," NBER Working Papers 12322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Manez, J.A. & Waterson, M., 2001. "Multiproduct Firms and Product Differentiation: a Survey," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 594, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    D43; L11; L13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jecrev:v:69:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1111_jere.12186. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.