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Upstream Competition and Downstream Buyer Power

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Author Info
Howard Smith
John Thanassoulis

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Abstract

It is often claimed that large buyers wield buyer power. Existing theories of this effect generally assume upstream monopoly. Yet the evidence is strongest with upstream competition. We show that upstream competition can yield buyer power for large buyers by generating supplier-level volume uncertainty - a feature that emerges from case study evidence of upstream competition - so the negotiated price depends on the seller’s cost expectation. By analyzing the effect of market structure changes on seller cost expectations the paper gives insights on three key policy-relevant questions around buyer power: (i) who wields it and under what circumstances (ii) does a downstream merger alter the buyer power of other buyers (so-called waterbed effects); and (iii) how are the incentives to invest in upstream technology altered by the creation of large downstream firms?

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Paper provided by University of Oxford, Department of Economics in its series Economics Series Working Papers with number 420.

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Date of creation: 2009
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Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:420

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Related research
Keywords: Buyer power; Waterbed effects; Bargaining in the supply chain; Milk; Private-label; Supermarkets;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts
L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  3. Christopher M. Snyder, 1996. "A Dynamic Theory of Countervailing Power," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(4), pages 747-769, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Ken Binmore & Ariel Rubinstein & Asher Wolinsky, 1986. "The Nash Bargaining Solution in Economic Modelling," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(2), pages 176-188, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Stole, Lars A & Zwiebel, Jeffrey, 1996. "Organizational Design and Technology Choice under Intrafirm Bargaining," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 195-222, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2007. "Buyer power and supplier incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 647-667, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Roman Inderst & Greg Shaffer, 2007. "Retail Mergers, Buyer Power and Product Variety," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(516), pages 45-67, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    • Jonas Björnerstedt & Johan Stennek, 2001. "Bilateral Oligopoly," CIG Working Papers FS IV 01-08, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG). [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. George Symeonidis, 2009. "Downstream merger and welfare in a bilateral oligopoly," Economics Discussion Papers 671, University of Essex, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Walter Beckert, 2009. "Empirical analysis of buyer power," CeMMAP working papers CWP17/09, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  3. Claire Chambolle & Sofia Villas-Boas, 2008. "Buyer Power through Producer's Differentiation," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 1042, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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