IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/29508.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline

Author

Listed:
  • Ali Hortaçsu
  • Olivia R. Natan
  • Hayden Parsley
  • Timothy Schwieg
  • Kevin R. Williams

Abstract

Firms facing complex objectives often decompose the problems they face, delegating different parts of the decision to distinct sub-units. Using comprehensive data and internal models from a large U.S. airline, we establish that airline pricing is not well approximated by a model of the firm as a unitary decision-maker. We show that observed prices, however, can be rationalized by accounting for organizational structure and for the decisions by departments that are tasked with supplying inputs to the observed pricing heuristic. Simulating the prices the firm would charge if it were a rational, unitary decision-maker results in lower welfare than we estimate under observed practices. Finally, we discuss why counterfactual estimates of welfare and market power may be biased if prices are set through decomposition, but we instead assume that they are set by unitary decision-makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali Hortaçsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline," NBER Working Papers 29508, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29508
    Note: IO
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w29508.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Atkin & Azam Chaudhry & Shamyla Chaudry & Amit K. Khandelwal & Eric Verhoogen, 2017. "Organizational Barriers to Technology Adoption: Evidence from Soccer-Ball Producers in Pakistan," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1101-1164.
    2. repec:pup:chapts:9889-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Jiang, Renna & Manchanda, Puneet & Rossi, Peter E., 2009. "Bayesian analysis of random coefficient logit models using aggregate data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 149(2), pages 136-148, April.
    4. Guillermo Gallego & Garrett van Ryzin, 1994. "Optimal Dynamic Pricing of Inventories with Stochastic Demand over Finite Horizons," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(8), pages 999-1020, August.
    5. Jeffrey I. McGill & Garrett J. van Ryzin, 1999. "Revenue Management: Research Overview and Prospects," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 233-256, May.
    6. Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2008. "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1611-1633.
    7. Yeon-Koo Che & Seung-Weon Yoo, 2001. "Optimal Incentives for Teams," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 525-541, June.
    8. Sacarny, Adam, 2018. "Adoption and learning across hospitals: The case of a revenue-generating practice," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 142-164.
    9. Avi Goldfarb & Mo Xiao, 2011. "Who Thinks about the Competition? Managerial Ability and Strategic Entry in US Local Telephone Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3130-3161, December.
    10. Enno Siemsen & Sridhar Balasubramanian & Aleda V. Roth, 2007. "Incentives That Induce Task-Related Effort, Helping, and Knowledge Sharing in Workgroups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(10), pages 1533-1550, October.
    11. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    12. Wouter Dessein & Tano Santos, 2006. "Adaptive Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(5), pages 956-985, October.
    13. Ricardo Alonso & Wouter Dessein & Niko Matouschek, 2008. "When Does Coordination Require Centralization?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 145-179, March.
    14. Levitt, Steven D., 2016. "Bagels and donuts for sale: A case study in profit maximization," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 518-535.
    15. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    16. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1990. "Rationalizability, Learning, and Equilibrium in Games with Strategic Complementarities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(6), pages 1255-1277, November.
    17. Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "The Welfare Effects of Dynamic Pricing: Evidence from Airline Markets," NBER Working Papers 28989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Peter P. Belobaba, 1989. "OR Practice—Application of a Probabilistic Decision Model to Airline Seat Inventory Control," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 37(2), pages 183-197, April.
    19. Kevin R. Williams, 2017. "The Welfare Effects of Dynamic Pricing: Evidence from Airline Markets," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2103R2, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jun 2021.
    20. Sara Ellison & Christopher M. Snyder & Hongkai Zhang, 2016. "Costs of Managerial Attention and Activity as a Source of Sticky Prices: Structural Estimates from an Online Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 6285, CESifo.
    21. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer.
    22. Robert Gibbons & Rebecca Henderson, 2012. "What Do Managers Do? [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    23. Yueran Ma & Tiziano Ropele & David Sraer & David Thesmar, 2020. "A Quantitative Analysis of Distortions in Managerial Forecasts," NBER Working Papers 26830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. S. L. Brumelle & J. I. McGill & T. H. Oum & K. Sawaki & M. W. Tretheway, 1990. "Allocation of Airline Seats between Stochastically Dependent Demands," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 183-192, August.
    25. Jun Li & Nelson Granados & Serguei Netessine, 2014. "Are Consumers Strategic? Structural Estimation from the Air-Travel Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2114-2137, September.
    26. Barry C. Smith & John F. Leimkuhler & Ross M. Darrow, 1992. "Yield Management at American Airlines," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 8-31, February.
    27. Stefano DellaVigna & Matthew Gentzkow, 2019. "Uniform Pricing in U.S. Retail Chains," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 2011-2084.
    28. Richard D. Wollmer, 1992. "An Airline Seat Management Model for a Single Leg Route When Lower Fare Classes Book First," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 26-37, February.
    29. Andrew Sweeting & James W. Roberts & Chris Gedge, 2020. "A Model of Dynamic Limit Pricing with an Application to the Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(3), pages 1148-1193.
    30. Ali Hortaçsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Demand Estimation with Infrequent Purchases and Small Market Sizes," NBER Working Papers 29530, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Victor Aguirregabiria & Francis Guiton, 2022. "Decentralized Decision-Making in Retail Chains: Evidence from Inventory Management," Working Papers tecipa-722, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    2. Robert Evan Sanders, 2024. "Dynamic Pricing and Organic Waste Bans: A Study of Grocery Retailers’ Incentives to Reduce Food Waste," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(2), pages 289-316, March.
    3. James D. Dana Jr. & Kevin R. Williams, 2018. "This paper develops an oligopoly model in which firms first choose capacity and then compete in prices in a series of advance-purchase markets. We show the existence of multiple sales opportunities cr," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2136R4, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Nov 2021.
    4. Michele Fioretti & Junnan He & Jorge Tamayo, 2024. "Prices and Concentration: A U-Shape? Theory and Evidence from Renewables," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-04631762, HAL.
    5. James D. Dana & Kevin R. Williams, 2022. "Intertemporal Price Discrimination in Sequential Quantity-Price Games," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(5), pages 966-981, September.
    6. Michele Fioretti & Junnan He & Jorge Tamayo, 2024. "Prices and Concentration: A U-Shape? Theory and Evidence from Renewables," Working Papers hal-04631762, HAL.
    7. Ali Hortacsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Incorporating Search and Sales Information in Demand Estimation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2313, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.

    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. Ali Hortacsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2312R4, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jun 2023.
    2. Ali Hortacsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2312R3, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jan 2023.
    3. Alderighi, Marco & Gaggero, Alberto A. & Piga, Claudio A., 2022. "Hidden prices with fixed inventory: Evidence from the airline industry," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 42-61.
    4. Syed Asif Raza & Rafi Ashrafi & Ali Akgunduz, 2020. "A bibliometric analysis of revenue management in airline industry," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(6), pages 436-465, December.
    5. Dai Yao & Chuang Tang & Junhong Chu, 2023. "A Dynamic Model of Owner Acceptance in Peer-to-Peer Sharing Markets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 166-188, January.
    6. Victor Aguirregabiria & Allan Collard-Wexler & Stephen P. Ryan, 2021. "Dynamic Games in Empirical Industrial Organization," NBER Working Papers 29291, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Kalyan Talluri & Garrett van Ryzin, 2000. "Revenue management under general discrete choice model of consumer behavior," Economics Working Papers 533, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Oct 2001.
    8. Wang, Xiubin & Regan, Amelia, 2006. "Dynamic yield management when aircraft assignments are subject to swap," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 563-576, August.
    9. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    10. Kevin R. Williams, 2017. "Dynamic Airline Pricing and Seat Availability," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2103R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised May 2020.
    11. Kalyan Talluri & Garrett van Ryzin, 2004. "Revenue Management Under a General Discrete Choice Model of Consumer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(1), pages 15-33, January.
    12. Jeffrey I. McGill & Garrett J. van Ryzin, 1999. "Revenue Management: Research Overview and Prospects," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 233-256, May.
    13. Cynthia Barnhart & Peter Belobaba & Amedeo R. Odoni, 2003. "Applications of Operations Research in the Air Transport Industry," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 368-391, November.
    14. Youyi Feng & Baichun Xiao, 2000. "Optimal Policies of Yield Management with Multiple Predetermined Prices," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(2), pages 332-343, April.
    15. Feng, Youyi & Xiao, Baichun, 2006. "Integration of pricing and capacity allocation for perishable products," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(1), pages 17-34, January.
    16. Chatwin, Richard E., 2000. "Optimal dynamic pricing of perishable products with stochastic demand and a finite set of prices," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 149-174, August.
    17. Mihai Banciu & Fredrik Ødegaard & Alia Stanciu, 2019. "Distribution-free bounds for the expected marginal seat revenue heuristic with dependent demands," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 155-163, April.
    18. Youyi Feng & Baichun Xiao, 2000. "A Continuous-Time Yield Management Model with Multiple Prices and Reversible Price Changes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(5), pages 644-657, May.
    19. C K Anderson & J G Wilson, 2003. "Wait or buy? The strategic consumer: Pricing and profit implications," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(3), pages 299-306, March.
    20. Yigao Liang, 1999. "Solution to the Continuous Time Dynamic Yield Management Model," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 117-123, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:nbr:nberwo:29508. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.