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Product Differentiation and Firm Size Distribution: An Application to Carbonated Soft Drinks

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  • Patrick Paul Walsh
  • Ciara Whelan

Abstract

Using brand-level retail data, the firm size distribution in carbonated soft drinks is shown to be an outcome of the degree to which firms have placed brands effectively (store coverage) across vertical (flavour, packaging, diet attributes) segments of the market. Regularity of the firm size distribution is not disturbed by the nature of short-run brand competition (turbulence in brand market share) within segments. Remarkably, product differentiation resulting from firms acquiring various portfolios of product attributes and stores in market evolution determines the limiting firm size distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Paul Walsh & Ciara Whelan, 2002. "Product Differentiation and Firm Size Distribution: An Application to Carbonated Soft Drinks," STICERD - Economics of Industry Papers 31, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:stieip:31
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Walsh, Patrick Paul & Whelan, Ciara, 1999. "Modelling Price Dispersion as an Outcome of Competition in the Irish Grocery Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 325-343, September.
    2. repec:adr:anecst:y:1994:i:34 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Buzzacchi, Luigi & Valletti, Tommaso M., 2006. "Firm size distribution: Testing the "independent submarkets model" in the Italian motor insurance industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 809-834, July.
    4. Jerry Hausman & Gregory Leonard & J. Douglas Zona, 1994. "Competitive Analysis with Differentiated Products," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 34, pages 143-157.
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    6. Timothy Dunne & Mark J. Roberts & Larry Samuelson, 1988. "Patterns of Firm Entry and Exit in U.S. Manufacturing Industries," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(4), pages 495-515, Winter.
    7. John Sutton, 1997. "Gibrat's Legacy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 40-59, March.
    8. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-1398, November.
    9. Joe S. Bain, 1951. "Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 293-324.
    10. Steven Klepper & Kenneth L. Simons, 2000. "The Making of an Oligopoly: Firm Survival and Technological Change in the Evolution of the U.S. Tire Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 728-760, August.
    11. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    12. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Robert J. Gordon, 1996. "The Economics of New Goods," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bres96-1, April.
    13. Patrick Paul Walsh & Ciara Whelan, 1999. "A Rationale for Repealing the 1987 Groceries Order," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 71-90.
    14. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1982. "Selection and the Evolution of Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(3), pages 649-670, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Paul Walsh & Franco Mariuzzo, 2005. "Embedding Consumer Taste for Location into a Structural Model of Equilibrium," Trinity Economics Papers 200053, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    2. Ciara Whelan, 2003. "Is equating market share to market power a sound economic principle?," Open Access publications 10197/136, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. John Hutchinson, 2003. "Is there a Lower Bound to the Firm Size Distribution Comparing Transition Economies with an Established Market Economy," LICOS Discussion Papers 13503, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    4. Franco Mariuzzo & Patrick Walsh & Ciara Whelan, 2003. "Firm Size and Market Power in Carbonated Soft Drinks," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 23(3), pages 283-299, December.
    5. repec:tcd:wpaper:tep3 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm size distribution; product differentiation; carbonated soft drinks.;

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General

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