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Some Empirical Regularities in Market Shares

Author

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  • Rajeev Kohli

    (Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 506 Uris Hall, New York, New York 10027)

  • Raaj Sah

    (Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637)

Abstract

We present some empirical regularities in the market shares of brands. Our cross-sectional data on market shares consists of 1,171 brands in 91 product categories of foods and sporting goods sold in the United States. One of our results is that the pattern of market shares for each of the categories (many of which are fundamentally dissimilar, such as breakfast cereals and rifles) is represented well by the power law. The power law also does better than an alternative model--namely, the exponential form--which has previously been studied in the literature but without having been compared to any alternative. These two models have sharply different implications; for example, the power law predicts that the ratio of market shares for two successively ranked brands becomes smaller as one progresses from higher-ranked to lower-ranked brands, whereas the exponential form predicts that this ratio is a constant. Our findings have several managerial and research implications, which we summarize.

Suggested Citation

  • Rajeev Kohli & Raaj Sah, 2006. "Some Empirical Regularities in Market Shares," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(11), pages 1792-1798, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:52:y:2006:i:11:p:1792-1798
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1060.0572
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    4. P.J. Lamberson, 2016. "Winner-take-all or long tail? A behavioral model of markets with increasing returns," System Dynamics Review, System Dynamics Society, vol. 32(3-4), pages 233-260, July.

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