IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00788041.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Customer-class pricing, parallel trade and the optimal number of market segments

Author

Listed:
  • Y. Braouezec

    (UMR CNRS 8179 - Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

We consider the optimal market segmentation problem of a monopolist that faces a continuum of customers when it is costly to prevent resale (or parallel trade) among groups. In our framework, the monopolist chooses the number k≥1 of market segments, but also their design and the discriminatory prices. All these quantities are chosen to maximize the total profit. We solve the profit maximization problem when demands are linear and parallel as a function of the cost of separating markets. We show that market segmentation and prices cannot be chosen independently, and we also show that it is optimal to create only a few market segments. We then turn to the welfare analysis and show that the socially optimal number of market segment is equal to three.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Y. Braouezec, 2012. "Customer-class pricing, parallel trade and the optimal number of market segments," Post-Print hal-00788041, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00788041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malueg, David A. & Schwartz, Marius, 1994. "Parallel imports, demand dispersion, and international price discrimination," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3-4), pages 167-195, November.
    2. Tommaso M. Valletti & Stefan Szymanski, 2006. "Parallel Trade, International Exhaustion And Intellectual Property Rights: A Welfare Analysis," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 499-526, December.
    3. Phlips, Louis, 1988. "Price Discrimination: A Survey of the Theory," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 135-167.
    4. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Frank Verboven, 2001. "The Evolution of Price Dispersion in the European Car Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(4), pages 811-848.
    5. Schmalensee, Richard, 1981. "Output and Welfare Implications of Monopolistic Third-Degree Price Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(1), pages 242-247, March.
    6. Jaskold Gabszewicz, Jean & Shaked, Avner & Sutton, John & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1986. "Segmenting the market: The monopolist's optimal product mix," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 273-289, August.
    7. Reza Ahmadi & B. Rachel Yang, 2000. "Parallel Imports: Challenges from Unauthorized Distribution Channels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 279-294, March.
    8. Kilkenny, Maureen & Thisse, Jacques, 1999. "The Economics of Location: A Selective Survey," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1693, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Michel Breton & Shlomo Weber, 2005. "Stable partitions in a model with group-dependent feasible sets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 25(1), pages 187-201, January.
    10. Michel Le Breton & Shlomo Weber, "undated". "Stable Partitions in a Model with Group-Dependent Feasible Sets," Discussion Papers 03-24, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics, revised May 2003.
    11. Varian, Hal R, 1985. "Price Discrimination and Social Welfare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 870-875, September.
    12. Oren, Shmuel & Smith, Stephen & Wilson, Robert, 1984. "Pricing a Product Line," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 73-99, January.
    13. Myers, Matthew B. & Griffith, David A., 1999. "Strategies for combating gray market activity," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 2-8.
    14. Steinberg, Richard & Weisbrod, Burton A., 2005. "Nonprofits with distributional objectives: price discrimination and corner solutions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2205-2230, December.
    15. Victor Kaftal & Debashis Pal, 2008. "Third Degree Price Discrimination in Linear-Demand Markets: Effects on Number of Markets Served and Social Welfare," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(2), pages 558-573, October.
    16. Raymond J. Deneckere & R. Preston McAfee, 1996. "Damaged Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 149-174, June.
    17. K. Sridhar Moorthy & I. P. L. Png, 1992. "Market Segmentation, Cannibalization, and the Timing of Product Introductions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(3), pages 345-359, March.
    18. Hartwick, John M., 1978. "Optimal price discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 83-89, February.
    19. Anderson, Simon P & Ginsburgh, Victor A, 1999. "International Pricing with Costly Consumer Arbitrage," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 126-139, February.
    20. Patricia Danzon, 1997. "Price Discrimination for Pharmaceuticals: Welfare Effects in the US and the EU," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 301-322.
    21. Gallini, Nancy T. & Hollis, Aidan, 1999. "A contractual approach to the gray market," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 1-21, March.
    22. Clerides, Sofronis K., 2002. "Book value: intertemporal pricing and quality discrimination in the US market for books," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1385-1408, December.
    23. Le Grand, Julian, 1975. "Public Price Discrimination and Aid to Low Income Groups," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 42(165), pages 32-42, February.
    24. Eitan Gerstner & Duncan Holthausen, 1986. "Profitable Pricing When Market Segments Overlap," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 55-69.
    25. Shantanu Dutta & Mark Bergen & George John, 1994. "The Governance of Exclusive Territories When Dealers can Bootleg," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(1), pages 83-99.
    26. Keith E. Maskus, 2000. "Parallel Imports," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(9), pages 1269-1284, September.
    27. Michael Zhang & Peter C. Bell, 2010. "Fencing in the context of revenue management," International Journal of Revenue Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(1), pages 42-68.
    28. PHLIPS, Louis, 1988. "Price discrimination: a survey of the theory," LIDAM Reprints CORE 792, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    29. K. Sridhar Moorthy, 1984. "Market Segmentation, Self-Selection, and Product Line Design," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 288-307.
    30. Stole, Lars A., 2007. "Price Discrimination and Competition," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 2221-2299, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yann Braouezec & John Cagnol, 2023. "Theoretical Foundations of Community Rating by a Private Monopolist Insurer: Framework, Regulation, and Numerical Analysis," Papers 2309.15269, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2023.
    2. Ma, Jun & Nault, Barrie R. & Tu, Yiliu (Paul), 2023. "Customer segmentation, pricing, and lead time decisions: A stochastic-user-equilibrium perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    3. Braouezec, Yann, 2016. "On the welfare effects of regulating the number of discriminatory prices," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 588-607.
    4. Yann Braouezec, 2015. "Public versus Private Insurance System with (and without) Transaction Costs: Optimal Segmentation Policy of an Informed monopolistPublic versus Private Insurance System with (and without) Transaction ," Working Papers 2013-ECO-23, IESEG School of Management, revised May 2014.
    5. Yann Braouezec, 2013. "The Welfare Effects of Regulating the Number of Market Segments," Working Papers 2013-ECO-11, IESEG School of Management.

    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. Yann Braouezec, 2013. "The Welfare Effects of Regulating the Number of Market Segments," Working Papers 2013-ECO-11, IESEG School of Management.
    2. Teodora Cosac, 2004. "Vertical Restraints and Parallel Imports with Differentiated Products," Industrial Organization 0401006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Braouezec, Yann, 2016. "On the welfare effects of regulating the number of discriminatory prices," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 588-607.
    4. Evelyn O. Smith & Jeffrey D. Shulman, 2022. "Product diversion by vertically differentiated firms," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(5), pages 1928-1939, May.
    5. Kyle Margaret, 2011. "Strategic Responses to Parallel Trade," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 1-34, January.
    6. Frank Müller-Langer, 2009. "Does Parallel Trade Freedom Harm Consumers in Small Markets?," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 11(1), pages 11-41, April.
    7. Mueller-Langer, Frank, 2010. "An analysis of the ambiguous welfare effects of parallel trade freedom," MPRA Paper 35704, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kamal Saggi, 2016. "Trade, Intellectual Property Rights, and the World Trade Organization," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 16-00014, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    9. Yushi Tsunoda, 2022. "When should a firm set its selling price to cope with gray market trade?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 16-25, January.
    10. Sofia Berto Villas‐Boas, 2009. "An empirical investigation of the welfare effects of banning wholesale price discrimination," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(1), pages 20-46, March.
    11. Raff, Horst & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2007. "Why parallel trade may raise producers' profits," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 434-447, April.
    12. Santanu Roy & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Equilibrium parallel import policies and international market structure," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 15, pages 349-363, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Matsui, Kenji, 2014. "Gray-market trade with product information service in global supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 351-361.
    14. Zhongju Zhang & Juan Feng, 2017. "Price of Identical Product with Gray Market Sales: An Analytical Model and Empirical Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 397-412, June.
    15. Kamal Saggi, 2013. "Market Power in the Global Economy: The Exhaustion and Protection of Intellectual Property," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(567), pages 131-161, March.
    16. Geng, Difei & Saggi, Kamal, 2017. "International effects of national regulations: External reference pricing and price controls," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 68-84.
    17. Bennato, Anna Rita & Valletti, Tommaso, 2014. "Pharmaceutical innovation and parallel trade," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 83-92.
    18. Frank Mueller-Langer, 2014. "Copyright and parallel trade," Chapters, in: Richard Watt (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Copyright, chapter 16, pages 287-310, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Noriaki Matsushima & Toshihiro Matsumura, 2010. "Profit-Enhancing Parallel Imports," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 433-447, July.
    20. Nikolaos Zevgolis & Panagiotis Fotis, 2014. "Prohibition of parallel imports as a vertical restraint: per se approach or a misunderstanding?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 317-342, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General

    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:hal:journl:hal-00788041. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.