Second-Mover Advantage and Price Leadership in Bertrand Duopoly.

We consider the issues of endogenous timing and first versus second-mover advantage in differentiated-product Bertrand duopoly with asymmetric linear costs. First, we provide a thorough set of results in the cases where prices are either strategic substitutes and/or complements, dispensing with some common extraneous assumptions. Second, with linear demand for substitute goods, the scope for second-mover advantage crucially depends on the unit cost difference. A natural endogenous timing scheme coupled with equilibrium selection according to risk-dominance yields a unique outcome with the low-cost firm as leader.