IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jemstr/v13y2004i4p635-655.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differentiation‐Induced Switching Costs and Poaching

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Gehrig
  • Rune Stenbacka

Abstract

We show that the presence of sufficiently significant switching costs, which are increasing in the degree of product differentiation, generates an equilibrium configuration with maximal differentiation within the framework of a Hotelling model with linear transportation costs. The equilibrium with maximal differentiation offers a formalization of the idea that competing firms have noncooperative incentives to establish maximal switching cost barriers. The equilibrium incentives for commitments to high switching costs can be explained with poaching profits, which are increasing in the switching costs. Ex ante competition for market shares in period 1 is unable to eliminate these poaching profits.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Gehrig & Rune Stenbacka, 2004. "Differentiation‐Induced Switching Costs and Poaching," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 635-655, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:13:y:2004:i:4:p:635-655
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1430-9134.2004.00026.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1430-9134.2004.00026.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1430-9134.2004.00026.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. Paul Klemperer, 1995. "Competition when Consumers have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 515-539.
    2. repec:bla:jindec:v:49:y:2001:i:3:p:281-98 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Drew Fudenberg & Jean Tirole, 2000. "Customer Poaching and Brand Switching," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(4), pages 634-657, Winter.
    4. Osborne, Martin J & Pitchik, Carolyn, 1987. "Equilibrium in Hotelling's Model of Spatial Competition," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(4), pages 911-922, July.
    5. Gabszewicz, Jean & Pepall, Lynne & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1992. "Sequential Entry with Brand Loyalty Caused by Consumer Learning-by-Using," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 397-416, December.
    6. Taylor, Curtis R, 2003. "Supplier Surfing: Competition and Consumer Behavior in Subscription Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(2), pages 223-246, Summer.
    7. Caminal, Ramon & Matutes, Carmen, 1990. "Endogenous switching costs in a duopoly model," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 353-373, September.
    8. Yongmin Chen, 1997. "Paying Customers to Switch," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), pages 877-897, December.
    9. Gehrig, Thomas & ,, 2002. "Introductory Offers in a Model of Strategic Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 3189, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Kim, Moshe & Kliger, Doron & Vale, Bent, 2003. "Estimating switching costs: the case of banking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 25-56, January.
    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. Jan Bouckaert & Hans Degryse & Jorge Fernández‐Ruiz & Miguel García‐Cestona, 2008. "Softening Competition By Inducing Switching In Credit Markets: A Correction," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 679-682, September.
    2. V. Brian Viard, 2007. "Do switching costs make markets more or less competitive? The case of 800-number portability," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(1), pages 146-163, March.
    3. Jiwoong Shin & K. Sudhir, 2010. "A Customer Management Dilemma: When Is It Profitable to Reward One's Own Customers?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 671-689, 07-08.
    4. Lam, W., 2015. "Switching Costs in Two-sided Markets," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2015024, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. Jorge Fernández‐Ruiz, 2019. "A Mixed Duopoly With Switching Costs," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 70(2), pages 235-257, June.
    6. Bernard Caillaud & Romain de Nijs, 2011. "Strategic loyalty reward in dynamic price Discrimination," PSE Working Papers halshs-00622291, HAL.
    7. Jeong, Yuncheol & Maruyama, Masayoshi, 2018. "Positioning and pricing strategies in a market with switching costs and staying costs," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 47-57.
    8. Yuk‐fai Fong & Qihong Liu, 2011. "Loyalty Rewards Facilitate Tacit Collusion," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 739-775, September.
    9. Aoki, Reiko & Arai, Yasuhiro, 2014. "Evolution of Standards and Innovation," CIS Discussion paper series 619, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. Bernard Caillaud & Romain De Nijs, 2014. "Strategic Loyalty Reward in Dynamic Price Discrimination," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(5), pages 725-742, September.
    11. Cabral, Luis, 2012. "Switching Costs and Equilibrium Prices," CEPR Discussion Papers 8970, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Esteves, Rosa-Branca, 2010. "Pricing with customer recognition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 669-681, November.
    13. Rhee, Ki-Eun, 2014. "What types of switching costs to create under behavior-based price discrimination?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 209-221.
    14. Mengze Shi, 2013. "A theoretical analysis of endogenous and exogenous switching costs," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 205-230, June.
    15. Quan Dong & Juan Carlos Bàrcena-Ruiz, 2017. "Privatization and Entry with Switching Costs," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 85(4), pages 491-510, July.
    16. Haan, Marten & Siekman, Wilhelm, 2015. "Winning back the unfaithful while exploiting the loyal," Research Report 15011-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    17. Yongmin Chen & Jason Pearcy, 2010. "Dynamic pricing: when to entice brand switching and when to reward consumer loyalty," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(4), pages 674-685, December.
    18. Aoki, Reiko & Arai, Yasuhiro, 2013. "Standards and Innovation: Technology vs. Installed Base," CIS Discussion paper series 601, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    19. Mark Armstrong, 2005. "Recent Developments in the Economics of Price Discrimination," Industrial Organization 0511004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Johannes Johnen, 2020. "Dynamic competition in deceptive markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(2), pages 375-401, June.

    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:13:y:2004:i:4:p:635-655. 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.