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Buyer-Supplier Interaction, Asset Specificity, And Product Choice

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  • Nisvan Erkal

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to explore how the demand for specific investments may affect the product variety in a bilateral duopolistic industry. In the literature on the hold-up problem, it is generally assumed that the degree of specificity of investments is either exogenously determined or chosen by the suppliers. We develop a model where the degree of specificity of investments is endogenously determined through the product choices of both buyers and suppliers. In an environment where input prices are determined by bilateral negotiations, we show that the existence of alternative buyers causes suppliers to choose less-than-fullyspecialized input types. Their location and investment choices crucially depend on the degree of product differentiation in the downstream market. This implies that the buyers may choose to increase their own competition by producing more similar products in order to increase the suppliers’ investment incentives. The results offer an explanation for why we may observe instances of intermediate product differentiation by focusing on the interactions between buyers and suppliers.

Suggested Citation

  • Nisvan Erkal, 2003. "Buyer-Supplier Interaction, Asset Specificity, And Product Choice," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 885, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:mlb:wpaper:885
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    2. Simone Boccaletti & Vittoria Cerasi, 2021. "Liquidation value of productive assets and product differentiation," Working Papers 483, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2021.
    3. Takeshi Ebina & Noriaki Matsushima, 2017. "Product differentiation and entry timing in a continuous-time spatial competition model with vertical relations," ISER Discussion Paper 1009, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    4. Noriaki Matsushima & Tomomichi Mizuno, 2009. "Input specificity and product differentiation," ISER Discussion Paper 0745, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    5. Van Assche, Ari & Schwartz, Galina A., 2010. "Input specificity and global sourcing," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 69-85, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    asset specificity; vertical interactions; product differentiation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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