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Product variety and price strategy in the ski manufacturing industry

Author

Listed:
  • Nicoletta Corrocher

    (Cespri, Bocconi University and Department of Economics, NFH, University of Tromso)

  • Marco Guerzoni

    (GSBC-EIC, Friedrich Schiller Universität, Jena, Germany)

Abstract

The present paper aims at examining the role of variety in the ski manufacturing industry and its relevance in firms' price setting strategies. In particular, it intends to investigate and empirically test two hypotheses concerning the relation between variety and prices. The first concerns the relationship between product quality/complexity and prices. The second refers to the existence of two kinds of varieties having opposite effects on price formation: market-related variety and production-related variety. We are able to empirically disentangle these two effects, by using variety in service characteristics as a proxy for market-related variety and variety in technical characteristics for production-related variety. Our empirical investigation confirms that prices are positively affected by product complexity and quality and positively affected by variety at the level of service characteristics. This means that a high degree of product variety allows firms to charge a premium price on consumers, who are able to find the product that best meet their needs and are therefore willing to pay a higher price. On the contrary, variety at the level of technical characteristics negatively impact on prices, because in a context where a dominant design emerges and new varieties are not radically different, gains in economies of scale and scope outweigh the cost of the increased flexibility in the equipment required to produce variety. The resulting decrease in marginal costs negatively impinges upon prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicoletta Corrocher & Marco Guerzoni, 2008. "Product variety and price strategy in the ski manufacturing industry," Jena Economics Research Papers 2008-015, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    • Handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tommaso Ciarli & Andre' Lorentz & Maria Savona & Marco Valente, 2012. "The role of technology, organisation, and demand in growth and income distribution," LEM Papers Series 2012/06, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    2. Grazia Cecere, 2012. "Economics of soft innovation: a review article," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(8), pages 827-835, November.
    3. Nicoletta Corrocher & Marco Guerzoni, 2015. "Post-Entry Product Introduction: Who Explores New Niches?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 18-36, January.
    4. Frenken, Koen & Pyka, Andreas & Verspagen, Bart & Windrum, Paul, 2010. "Innovation, qualitative change and economic development--Special issue in honour of Pier-Paolo Saviotti," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-4, March.
    5. Ciarli, Tommaso & Valente, Marco, 2016. "The complex interactions between economic growth and market concentration in a model of structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 38-54.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    variety; product and service characteristics; ski manufacturing sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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