IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jemstr/v10y2001i2p277-299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vertical Integration and Proprietary Information Transfers

Author

Listed:
  • John S. Hughes
  • Jennifer L. Kao

Abstract

Suppose that rival downstream producers of a final good contract with the same upstream supplier of an input and, in the process, reveal private information. A vertical merger between the upstream supplier and one of the downstream firms may dissipate the information advantage of the remaining downstream firms. The welfare consequences of such a merger and related information sharing depend on the value of information, the benefits of integration apart from information sharing, and the nature of upstream competition. In this paper, conditions are found under which owners of a vertically integrated firm are better off breaking up into independent firms. This result may explain AT&T's recent spinoff of Lucent Technologies. Further results suggest that a prohibition on information transfers, such as that often proposed by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice as a precursor to approving vertical mergers, may actually reduce expected consumer surplus and expected social welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • John S. Hughes & Jennifer L. Kao, 2001. "Vertical Integration and Proprietary Information Transfers," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 277-299, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:10:y:2001:i:2:p:277-299
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1430-9134.2001.00277.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1430-9134.2001.00277.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1430-9134.2001.00277.x?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. Keith J. Crocker, 1983. "Vertical Integration and the Strategic use of Private Information," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 236-250, Spring.
    2. Demski, Joel S, et al, 1999. "Practices for Managing Information Flows within Organizations," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 107-131, April.
    3. Michael A. Salinger, 1988. "Vertical Mergers and Market Foreclosure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(2), pages 345-356.
    4. Janssen, M.C.W. & Maasland, E., 1997. "On the Unique D1 Equilibrium in the Stackelberg Model with Asymmetric Information," Other publications TiSEM cb1945aa-057b-48d0-aad2-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Joseph J. Spengler, 1950. "Vertical Integration and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4), pages 347-347.
    6. Vives, Xavier, 1984. "Duopoly information equilibrium: Cournot and bertrand," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 71-94, October.
    7. Rogerson, William P, 1980. "Aggregate Expected Consumer Surplus as a Welfare Index with an Application to Price Stabilization," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(2), pages 423-436, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Allain, Marie-Laure & Chambolle, Claire & Rey, Patrick, 2011. "Vertical Integration, Information and Foreclosure," IDEI Working Papers 673, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Nov 2011.
    2. Johannes Boehm & Jan Sonntag, 2023. "Vertical Integration and Foreclosure: Evidence from Production Network Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 141-161, January.
    3. Werner Bönte & Lars Wiethaus, 2007. "Knowledge Disclosure and Transmission in Buyer–Supplier Relationships," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 31(4), pages 275-288, December.
    4. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/44gofgf80399mp5fq5q50vv5t6 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/44gofgf80399mp5fq5q50vv5t6 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Milliou, Chrysovalantou & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2019. "Vertical integration and knowledge disclosure," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 9-13.
    7. Chrysovalantou Miliou & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2015. "Vertical Integration, Knowledge Disclosure and Decreasing Rival's Cost," Working Papers 1507, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    8. Milliou, Chrysovalantou & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2012. "Vertical integration, knowledge disclosure and decreasing rival's cost," UC3M Working papers. Economics we1213, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    9. James J. Anton & Hillary Greene & Dennis A. Yao, 2006. "Policy Implications of Weak Patent Rights," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 6, pages 1-26, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Charles Thomas, 2011. "The Price Effects of Using Firewalls as an Antitrust Remedy," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 38(2), pages 209-222, March.
    11. Gilbert, Richard J., 2021. "Separation: A Cure for Abuse of Platform Dominance?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    12. Matthias Hunold & Shiva Shekhar, 2022. "Supply Chain Innovations and Partial Ownership," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 60(1), pages 109-145, February.
    13. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/44gofgf80399mp5fq5q50vv5t6 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/44gofgf80399mp5fq5q50vv5t6 is not listed 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. Choi, Jay Pil, 1998. "Information concealment in the theory of vertical integration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 117-131, March.
    2. Filippo Vergara Caffarelli, 2007. "Merge and Compete: Strategic Incentives for Vertical Integration," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 97(5), pages 203-244, September.
    3. Seok Yang & Myeonghwan Cho, 2024. "Pricing Third-Party Access to Essential Facilities under Asymmetric Information," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 40, pages 315-348.
    4. Jean Gabszewicz & Didier Laussel & Tanguy Ypersele & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2013. "Market Games in Successive Oligopolies," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(3), pages 397-410, June.
    5. Martin Obradovits, 2013. "Excessive supplier pricing and high-quality foreclosure," Vienna Economics Papers vie1303, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    6. Allain, Marie-Laure & Chambolle, Claire & Rey, Patrick, 2011. "Vertical Integration, Information and Foreclosure," TSE Working Papers 11-237, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Nov 2011.
    7. Hattori Keisuke & Lin Ming-Hsin, 2011. "Alliance Partner Choice in Markets with Vertical and Horizontal Externalities," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-27, June.
    8. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    9. Fang Fang & Baojun Jiang & Jiong Sun, 2023. "Partial vertical ownership in the presence of downstream competition," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1692-1704, June.
    10. Zanaj Skerdilajda, 2010. "Successive Oligopolies and Decreasing Returns," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, November.
    11. Gleb B. Domnenko & David S. Sibley, 2023. "Simulating Vertical Mergers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 99-118, March.
    12. Rosengren, Eric S & Meehan, James W, Jr, 1994. "Empirical Evidence on Vertical Foreclosure," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(2), pages 303-317, April.
    13. Evans, Shane, 2010. "Franchise Contracts with Ex Post Limited Liability," Working Papers 10281, University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, revised 05 Oct 2010.
    14. Jialu Li & Meiying Yang & Xuan Zhao, 2019. "Quantifying and mitigating inefficiency in information acquisition under competition," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 27(4), pages 985-1007, December.
    15. Michal Fabinger & E. Glen Weyl, 2016. "The Average-Marginal Relationship and Tractable Equilibrium Forms," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1028, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    16. Gu, Dingwei & Huang, Yangguang, 2024. "Agency model versus wholesale model," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Nobel Prize Committee, 2014. "Market power and regulation (scientific background)," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2014-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    18. Dendorfer, Florian, 2024. "First-party selling and self-preferencing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Haim Mendelson & Tunay I. Tunca, 2007. "Strategic Spot Trading in Supply Chains," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 742-759, May.
    20. Winston W. Chang & Han Eol Ryu, 2015. "Vertically Related Markets, Foreign Competition and Optimal Privatization Policy," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 303-319, May.

    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:jemstr:v:10:y:2001:i:2:p:277-299. 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.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/journals/JEMS/ .

    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.