This paper examines a three-stage model of divisionalization wher, first, two parents firms create independent unts, second, the parents firms allocate cost reducing levels over these units, and third, the resulting uits compete in a Cournot mrket given their current costs of production. The...

In this paper we address the following question : is it more profitable, for an entrant in a differentiated market, to acquire an existing firm than to compete ? We illustrate the answer by considering competition in the banking sector

This paper faces two questions concerning Joint Ventures (JV) agreements. First, we study how the partners contribution affect the creation and the profit sharing of a JV when partners’ effort is not obervable. Then, we see whether such agreements are easier to enforce when the decision on JV...

We consider a game in which firms' owners assign to their managers a delegation scheme weighting profits and market shares. Managers then compete in quantities. We show first that this delegation scheme typically leads to quantities being strategic substitutes or complements depending on firms'...

This paper argues that the balance of power between producers and retailers depends on the relative degrees of differentiation at the two levels of the vertical structure. We propose an extension of Hotelling's model in which two producers, competing in prices with horizontally differentiated...

Using a vertical differentiation model of endogenous growth with stochastic R&D activity, we characterize the optimal patent life-time the government would set in order to maximize economic growth. We show that a finite patent life-time does exist and is unique provided that the expected rate of...

Recent human capital theories predict that labor market frictions and product market competition influence firm-sponsored training. Using matched worker-firm data from Dutch manufacturing, our paper empirically assesses the validity of these predictions. We find that a decrease in labor market...

In the theoretical literature, strong arguments have been provided in support of the efficiency defense in antitrust merger policy. One of the most often cited results is due to Williamson (1968) that shows how relatively small reduction in cost could offset the deadweight loss of a large price...