IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/buecrs/v78y2026i2p368-384.html

Cooperation and Managerial Delegation in Duopoly Revisited

Author

Listed:
  • José A. Novo‐Peteiro

Abstract

This paper shows that the cooperative game with managerial delegation (in both the Cournot and Bertrand settings) and the Bertrand benchmark game (without delegation or cooperation) are equivalent in duopoly. The cooperative solution may be the equilibrium of the game, and this outcome can be beneficial for consumer surplus and welfare when managers face output‐based incentives. Moreover, if product differentiation is sufficiently high, the condition for collusion to be stable over time is the same when the duopolists are price‐setters and strictly profit‐seeking, and when they are either price‐setters or quantity setters, and owners and managers can collude when deciding their respective strategic variable.

Suggested Citation

  • José A. Novo‐Peteiro, 2026. "Cooperation and Managerial Delegation in Duopoly Revisited," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 78(2), pages 368-384, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:78:y:2026:i:2:p:368-384
    DOI: 10.1111/boer.70027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/boer.70027
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/boer.70027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deneckere, R., 1983. "Duopoly supergames with product differentiation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 37-42.
    2. Inés Macho-Stadler & Thierry Verdier, 1991. "Strategic managerial incentives and cross ownership structure: A note," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 285-297, October.
    3. Jansen, Thijs & van Lier, Arie & van Witteloostuijn, Arjen, 2007. "A note on strategic delegation: The market share case," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 531-539, June.
    4. Reitman, David, 1993. "Stock Options and the Strategic Use of Managerial Incentives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 513-524, June.
    5. Vickers, John, 1985. "Delegation and the Theory of the Firm," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(380a), pages 138-147, Supplemen.
    6. Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2005. "Managerial incentives and collusive behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1501-1523, August.
    7. Rupayan Pal, 2010. "Cooperative Managerial Delegation, R&D And Collusion," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 155-169, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Delbono, Flavio & Lambertini, Luca, 2020. "On the collusive nature of managerial contracts based on comparative performance," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 12-18.
    2. Zhao, Kai & Wu, Wanshu, 2015. "Ambiguity Between Pirate Incentive And Collective Desirability Within Semi-Delegation Pattern," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 56(2), pages 259-279, December.
    3. Lee, Jen-Yao & Wang, Leonard F. S. & Sun, Ji, 2022. "Relative-performance delegation destabilizes upstream collusion," MPRA Paper 114939, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 12 Oct 2022.
    4. Wang, Xingtang & Wang, Leonard F.S., 2021. "Vertical product differentiation, managerial delegation and social welfare in a vertically-related market," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 149-159.
    5. Robert A. Ritz, 2014. "On Welfare Losses Due to Imperfect Competition," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 167-190, March.
    6. Delbono, Flavio & Lambertini, Luca, 2023. "Stackelberg leadership and managerial delegation under hyperbolic demand," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    7. Stamatopoulos, Giorgos, 2018. "Bargaining over managerial contracts: a note," MPRA Paper 86143, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Rupayan Pal, 2012. "Delegation And Emission Tax In A Differentiated Oligopoly," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 80(6), pages 650-670, December.
    9. Qu, Haitao & Wang, Leonard F.S. & Wu, Di & Yang, Can & Sun, Ji, 2022. "Cross Ownership, Loan Commitment, Managerial Delegation and the “Prisoner’s Dilemma”," MPRA Paper 129075, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Nov 2022.
    10. Kojun Hamada, 2021. "Cooperative managerial delegation revisited: Including the firm's cost as a managerial objective," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 171-178, April.
    11. Ma, Jie & Wang, Leonard F.S. & Sun, Ji, 2022. "Cross Ownership, Loan Commitment, Managerial Delegation and the “Prisoner’s Dilemma”," MPRA Paper 115237, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Nov 2022.
    12. Bhattacharjee Trishita & Pal Rupayan, 2014. "Network Externalities and Strategic Managerial Delegation in Cournot Duopoly: Is There a Prisoners’ Dilemma?," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(4), pages 343-353, January.
    13. Kojun Hamada, 2023. "Generalization of strategic delegation," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 199-214, January.
    14. Yi-Shan Lu & Chien-Shu Tsai & Jen-Yao Lee & Chung-Yang Lee, 2024. "Collusive Stability with Relative Performance and Network Externalities," Games, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-7, June.
    15. Rupayan Pal, 2014. "Managerial delegation in monopoly and social welfare," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 10(4), pages 403-410, December.
    16. Leonard Wang & Tien-Der Han, 2015. "Better governance matters optimal privatization policy," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(2), pages 189-206, December.
    17. Lili Xu & Qinghong Zhao & Sang‐Ho Lee, 2025. "Endogenous choice of environmental corporate social responsibility in a mixed duopoly," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 21(1), pages 26-51, March.
    18. Yoshifumi Hino & Yusuke Zennyo, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and strategic relationships," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 64(3), pages 231-244, September.
    19. Liang, Wen-Jung & Tseng, Ching-Chih & Wang, Kuang-Cheng Andy, 2011. "Location choice with delegation: Bertrand vs. Cournot competition," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 1774-1781, July.
    20. Shih-Shen Chen & Po-Sheng Ko & Chien-Shu Tsai & Jen-Yao Lee, 2022. "Managerial Delegation and Conflicting Interest in Unionized Duopoly with Firm Heterogeneity," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(22), pages 1-8, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:78:y:2026:i:2:p:368-384. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0307-3378 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.