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Product flexibility and price competition in Hotelling's duopoly

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  • Pierre Fleckinger

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Thierry Lafay

    (PRISM Sorbonne - Pôle de recherche interdisciplinaire en sciences du management - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Abstract

In a Hotelling's duopoly with a general transportation cost function, we study competition through catalog: each firm chooses at the same time a price and a location. With simultaneous catalog offers, there is no equilibrium in pure strategies for high valuations of the consumers, while a Stackelberg equilibrium exists under mild conditions. The follower is better off than the leader, whose price is smaller: the location preemption effect is weaker than the price leadership effect. We obtain closed-form solutions for the linear and quadratic cost cases. Using these results, we discuss the nature of competition depending on the relative flexibility of products and prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Fleckinger & Thierry Lafay, 2010. "Product flexibility and price competition in Hotelling's duopoly," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-00641873, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-00641873
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00641873
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Han, Haipeng & Lien, Donald & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2022. "Online or face-to-face? Competition among MOOC and regular education providers," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 857-881.
    3. Dimitrios Xefteris & Iván Barreda-Tarrazona & Aurora García-Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzis, 2018. "Catalog Competition: Equilibrium Characterization and experimental evidence," Working Papers 2018/08, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    4. Kress, Dominik & Pesch, Erwin, 2012. "Sequential competitive location on networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(3), pages 483-499.
    5. Javier Elizalde & Markus Kinateder & Ignacio Rodríguez-Carreño, 2014. "Entry Regulation in a Linear Market with Elastic Demand," Faculty Working Papers 02/14, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    6. Sun, Shuzhen & Liu, Tieming, 2023. "Pricing and sales-effort coordination facing free riding behaviors between a brick-and-mortar retailer and a platform store owned by the manufacturer," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    7. Dimitrios Xefteris & Iván Barreda‐Tarrazona & Aurora García‐Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzís, 2023. "Catalog competition: Theory and experimental evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 122-137, January.
    8. Scott M. Gilpatric & Youping Li, 2021. "Endogenous Price Leadership and Product Positioning," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(2), pages 287-302, March.
    9. Guo, Wen-Chung & Lai, Fu-Chuan & Zeng, Dao-Zhi, 2015. "A Hotelling model with production," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 40-49.

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