Multi-plant organizations have trouble including both local and global information in their decisions. Outlets know local conditions but headquarters is able to coordinate outlets. In allocating decision-making power, firms must balance coordination and flexibility. I model this tradeoff, and...

Single-plant firms choose quantity/quality levels to maximize profits. Multi-plant firms face this decision and must also choose how many decision makers to have. This paper presents two case studies and a model of a multi-plant firm in which overhead costs are lower with one decision-maker...

Competition in high technology is increasingly based on rapid innovation. But what conditions quicken innovation? Some suggest innovation is faster in firms with many related organizations located nearby. Others propose relationships with customers and suppliers as key factors in rapid...

This paper incorporates inventory dynamics into an analysis of market power. A Cournot duopoly model of competition is presented in which firms account for the effects of current choices on their competitors’ current actions on future actions (both their own and their competitors’). We show...

There is some debate about whether firms advertise too much or too little. We present a simple model to examine the incentives of a firm to advertise, and distinguish between the market-expansion effect and the business-stealing effect of advertising. Firms advertise homogeneous products (beef)...

There is some debate about whether firms advertise too much or too little. We present a simple model to examine the incentives of a firm to advertise, and distinguish between the market expansion effects and business stealing effects of advertising. When products are homogeneous, firms advertise...

Consolidations in the U.S. beef packing industry have prompted concern within the government and interest among academics over whether packers possess and are able to exercise market power. Economists have generated numerous studies to test for and measure market power in beef packing, but the...