Is the reputation of a firm tradeable when the previous owner has to retire even though ownership change is observable? We consider a competitive market in which a share of owners must retire in each period. New owners, observing only recent profits, bid for the firms that are for sale. Customers are concerned with the owners' type, which reflects the quality of the good or service provided. When a customer observes an ownership change, he may have an incentive to switch to a different firm, even if his past experience was good. However, we show that, in equilibrium, customers believe that the new owner is also good. Hence reputation is tradeable, although ownership change is observable. In our model, reputation is an intangible asset, embodied in an attractive customer base. Firms with good owners sell at a premium.
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Paper provided by Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim & Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim in its series Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications with number
04-52.
Length: 38 pages Date of creation: 26 Nov 2004 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:xrs:sfbmaa:04-52
Note: Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 504, at the University of Mannheim, is gratefully acknowledged. Contact details of provider: Postal: D-68131 Mannheim Phone: (49) (0) 621-292-2547 Fax: (49) (0) 621-292-5594 Email: Web page: http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/ More information through EDIRC
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.:
George J. Mailath & Larry Samuelson, .
""Who Wants a Good Reputation?'',"
CARESS Working Papres
98-12, University of Pennsylvania Center for Analytic Research and Economics in the Social Sciences.
Other versions:
George J. Mailath & Larry Samuelson, 2000.
"Who Wants a Good Reputation?,"
CARESS Working Papres
sell-rep, University of Pennsylvania Center for Analytic Research and Economics in the Social Sciences.
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