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Collective reputation with stochastic production and unknown willingness to pay for quality

Author

Listed:
  • Fulvio Fontini

    (Unipd - Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua)

  • Katrin Millock

    (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - 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, 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)

  • Michele Moretto

    (Unipd - Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua)

Abstract

In many cases, consumers cannot observe a single firm's investment in environmental quality or safety, but only the average quality of the industry. The outcome of the investment is stochastic, since firms cannot control perfectly the technology or external factors that may affect production. In addition, firms do not know consumers' valuation of quality. We characterize the solution of the firms' investment game and show that the value of stopping investments when firms are already investing in quality can be negative when the free-riding incentives dominate. The existence of systematic uncertainty on the outcome of investment slows down investment in quality, compared to a situation without uncertainty. The uncertainty on consumers' willingness to pay for quality can speed up or slow down investment. We also obtain the counterintuitive result that information acquisition may decrease the overall level of quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Fulvio Fontini & Katrin Millock & Michele Moretto, 2018. "Collective reputation with stochastic production and unknown willingness to pay for quality," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01802602, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-01802602
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    Cited by:

    1. Kumar, Anupam & Cantor, David E. & Grimm, Curtis M., 2019. "The impact of a supplier’s environmental management concerns on a buyer’s environmental reputation: The moderating role of relationship criticality and firm size," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 448-462.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collective reputation; Dynamic game; Real options; Stochastic quality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

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