IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/umagsb/2019017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Price Competition in a Vertizontally Differentiated Duopoly

Author

Listed:
  • Bos, Iwan

    (RS: GSBE Theme Conflict & Cooperation, Organisation,Strategy & Entrepreneurship)

  • Peeters, Ronald

Abstract

This paper analyzes price competition in a duopoly market in which products are both horizontally and vertically differentiated. Firms offer a basic and a premium product to buyers, some of whom are brand loyal. We establish the existence of a unique and symmetric Nash pricing equilibrium. Equilibrium prices are increasing in the degree of horizontal differentiation and the amount of brand loyal customers. The equilibrium price of the basic (premium) good is decreasing (increasing) in the quality difference and profits can increase in costs when this difference is high enough. If the pricing decision is taken at the product (division) level, then there is again a unique (and symmetric) Nash equilibrium. Equilibrium prices and profits are lower than in the centralized case and demand for the basic product is higher when the quality difference is sufficiently large. Welfare is unambiguously lower with decentralized pricing.

Suggested Citation

  • Bos, Iwan & Peeters, Ronald, 2019. "Price Competition in a Vertizontally Differentiated Duopoly," Research Memorandum 017, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:umagsb:2019017
    DOI: 10.26481/umagsb.2019017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/files/34893726/RM19017.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26481/umagsb.2019017?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. K. Sridhar Moorthy, 1988. "Strategic Decentralization in Channels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 335-355.
    2. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    3. Philip M. Parker & Lars-Hendrik Roller, 1997. "Collusive Conduct in Duopolies: Multimarket Contact and Cross-Ownership in the Mobile Telephone Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(2), pages 304-322, Summer.
    4. Silvia Sonderegger, 2011. "Market Segmentation With Nonlinear Pricing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 38-62, March.
    5. Kimmel, Sheldon, 1992. "Effects of Cost Changes on Oligopolists' Profits," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 441-449, December.
    6. Di Comite, Francesco & Thisse, Jacques-François & Vandenbussche, Hylke, 2014. "Verti-zontal differentiation in export markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 50-66.
    7. Armstrong, Mark & Vickers, John, 1993. "Price Discrimination, Competition and Regulation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 335-359, December.
    8. Meghan R. Busse, 2000. "Multimarket Contact and Price Coordination in the Cellular Telephone Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 287-320, June.
    9. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jun B. Kim & Carl F. Mela, 2016. "Zooming In on Choice: How Do Consumers Search for Cameras Online?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(5), pages 693-712, September.
    10. William N. Evans & Ioannis N. Kessides, 1994. "Living by the "Golden Rule": Multimarket Contact in the U. S. Airline Industry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 341-366.
    11. Champsaur, Paul & Rochet, Jean-Charles, 1989. "Multiproduct Duopolists," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(3), pages 533-557, May.
    12. Jaskold Gabszewicz, J. & Thisse, J. -F., 1979. "Price competition, quality and income disparities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 340-359, June.
    13. Justin P. Johnson & David P. Myatt, 2003. "Multiproduct Quality Competition: Fighting Brands and Product Line Pruning," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 748-774, June.
    14. Johnson, Justin P. & Myatt, David P., 2015. "The properties of product line prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 182-188.
    15. Xinyu Li & Ronald Peeters, 2017. "Rivalry information acquisition and disclosure," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 610-623, September.
    16. Nitin Mehta & Surendra Rajiv & Kannan Srinivasan, 2003. "Price Uncertainty and Consumer Search: A Structural Model of Consideration Set Formation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 58-84, June.
    17. Bing Jing & Z. Zhang, 2011. "Product line competition and price promotions," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 275-299, September.
    18. Preyas S. Desai, 2001. "Quality Segmentation in Spatial Markets: When Does Cannibalization Affect Product Line Design?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 265-283, August.
    19. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 211-211.
    20. Pradeep Bhardwaj, 2001. "Delegating Pricing Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 143-169, September.
    21. Federico Ciliberto & Jonathan W. Williams, 2014. "Does multimarket contact facilitate tacit collusion? Inference on conduct parameters in the airline industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 764-791, December.
    22. Rajiv Lal, 1986. "Technical Note—Delegating Pricing Responsibility to the Salesforce," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(2), pages 159-168.
    23. Jay Pil Choi & Heiko Gerlach, 2013. "Multi-Market Collusion with Demand Linkages and Antitrust Enforcement," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 987-1022, December.
    24. Justin P. Johnson & David P. Myatt, 2006. "Multiproduct Cournot oligopoly," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 583-601, September.
    25. Nerea Fernández & Pedro L. Marín, 1998. "Market Power and Multimarket Contact: Some Evidence from the Spanish Hotel Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 301-315, September.
    26. Tilman Klumpp & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "Price–quality competition in a mixed duopoly," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(3), pages 400-432, June.
    27. Volker Nocke & Nicolas Schutz, 2018. "Multiproduct‐Firm Oligopoly: An Aggregative Games Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(2), pages 523-557, March.
    28. B. Douglas Bernheim & Michael D. Whinston, 1990. "Multimarket Contact and Collusive Behavior," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(1), pages 1-26, Spring.
    29. Carlo Altomonte & Italo Colantone & Enrico Pennings, 2016. "Heterogeneous Firms and Asymmetric Product Differentiation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 835-874, December.
    30. Avner Shaked & John Sutton, 1982. "Relaxing Price Competition Through Product Differentiation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(1), pages 3-13.
    31. Babur De Los Santos & Ali Hortacsu & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2012. "Testing Models of Consumer Search Using Data on Web Browsing and Purchasing Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2955-2980, October.
    32. Timothy W. McGuire & Richard Staelin, 2008. "An Industry Equilibrium Analysis of Downstream Vertical Integration," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 115-130, 01-02.
    33. Fernando Vega-Redondo, 1997. "The Evolution of Walrasian Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(2), pages 375-384, March.
    34. Gilbert, Richard J & Matutes, Carmen, 1993. "Product Line Rivalry with Brand Differentiation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 223-240, September.
    35. repec:bla:jindec:v:46:y:1998:i:3:p:301-15 is not listed on IDEAS
    36. Frenzen, Heiko & Hansen, Ann-Kristin & Krafft, Manfred & Mantrala, Murali K. & Schmidt, Simone, 2010. "Delegation of pricing authority to the sales force: An agency-theoretic perspective of its determinants and impact on performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 58-68.
    37. Jans, Ivette & Rosenbaum, David I., 1997. "Multimarket contact and pricing: Evidence from the U.S. cement industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 391-412, May.
    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. Natalia Fabra & Juan-Pablo Montero, 2022. "Product Lines and Price Discrimination in Markets with Information Frictions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 981-1001, February.
    2. Stole, Lars A., 2007. "Price Discrimination and Competition," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 2221-2299, Elsevier.
    3. Yi-Ling Cheng & Shin-Kun Peng, 2012. "Quality and Quantity Competition in a Multiproduct Duopoly," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(1), pages 180-202, July.
    4. Ciliberto, Federico & Watkins, Eddie & Williams, Jonathan W., 2019. "Collusive pricing patterns in the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 136-157.
    5. Ngo Van Long & Zhuang Miao, 2020. "Multiple‐quality Cournot oligopoly and the role of market size," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 932-952, October.
    6. Ciliberto, Federico & Williams, Jonathan, 2010. "Does Multimarket Contact Facilitate Tacit Collusion? Inference on Conjectural Parameters in the Airline Industry," MPRA Paper 24888, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Fu, W. Wayne, 2003. "Multimarket contact of US newspaper chains: circulation competition and market coordination," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 501-519, December.
    8. Fabian Herweg, 2012. "Relaxing competition through quality differentiation and price discrimination," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 1-26, May.
    9. Arie, Guy & Markovich, Sarit & Varela, Mauricio, 2017. "On the competitive effects of multimarket contact," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 116-142.
    10. Beomjoon Shim & Ahmed Khwaja, 2017. "The Collusive Effect of Multimarket Contact on Prices: Evidence from Retail Lumber Markets," 2017 Meeting Papers 593, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Cruz-García, Paula & Fernández de Guevara, Juan & Maudos, Joaquín, 2021. "Bank competition and multimarket contact intensity," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    12. Jules Yimga, 2023. "Multimarket Contact and Market Power Implications in the US Airline Industry," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 985-1024, December.
    13. Balaguer, Jacint & Ripollés, Jordi, 2021. "Does multimarket contact affect prices in the retail fuel industry? First empirical evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Chicu, Mark & Ziebarth, Nicolas L., 2013. "Multi-market contact and competition: evidence from the Depression-era portland cement industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 603-611.
    15. Federico Ciliberto & Jonathan W. Williams, 2014. "Does multimarket contact facilitate tacit collusion? Inference on conduct parameters in the airline industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 764-791, December.
    16. Werner Güth & Kirsten Häger & Oliver Kirchkamp & Joachim Schwalbach, 2016. "Testing Forbearance Experimentally: Duopolistic Competition of Conglomerate Firms," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 63-86, February.
    17. Saadet Kasman & Adnan Kasman, 2016. "Multimarket contact, market power and financial stability in the Turkish banking industry," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 361-382, March.
    18. Faouzi Bensebaa, 2003. "La dynamique concurrentielle:défis analytiques et méthodologiques," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(1), pages 5-37, March.
    19. Justin P. Johnson & David P. Myatt, 2003. "Multiproduct Quality Competition: Fighting Brands and Product Line Pruning," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 748-774, June.
    20. Haizhen Lin & Ian M. McCarthy, 2023. "Multimarket Contact in Health Insurance: Evidence from Medicare Advantage," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(1), pages 212-255, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

    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:unm:umagsb:2019017. 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: Andrea Willems or Leonne Portz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meteonl.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.