Assortment decisions are key strategic instruments for firms responding to local market conditions. We assess this claim by studying the effect of a national merger between two large Dutch supermarket chains on prices and on the depth as well as composition of assortment. We adopt a...

Assortment decisions are key strategic instruments for firms responding to local market conditions. We assess this claim by studying the effect of a national merger between two large Dutch supermarket chains on prices and on the depth as well as composition of assortment. We adopt a...

Unlike most retrospective merger studies that only focus on price effects, we also estimate the impact of a merger on product variety. We use an original dataset on Dutch supermarkets to assess the effect of a merger that was conditionally approved by the Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) on...

This paper investigates the effects of mergers, entry, and exit in retail markets when input prices are negotiated. Results are derived from a model of bilateral Nash-bargaining between manufacturers and retailers which allows for general forms of demand and retail competition. Whether...

This article assesses the effectiveness of outlet divestitures as remedies in a merger between two large gasoline retailers. Results show that divestitures are effective in disciplining the increase in margins generated by the merger, but only for competing gas stations located within a one...

We investigate the effects of passive backward acquisitions in their efficient upstream supplier on downstream firms' ability to collude in a dynamic game of price competition with homogeneous goods. We find that passive backward acquisitions impede downstream collusion. The main driver of our...

This paper investigates the effects of changes in retail market concentration when input prices are negotiated. Results are derived from a model of bilateral Nash-bargaining between upstream and downstream firms which allows for general forms of demand and retail competition. Whether...

This Supplemental Material includes, among other things, the analytical derivatives of the price-cost margins of manufacturers determined via the "Nash-in-Nash" bargaining solution, the computation of the out-of-equilibrium retail prices following a bargaining breakdown, the algorithm used to...

In 2003, the UK Competition Commission (CC) approved the acquisition of Safeway plc by Wm. Morrisons plc, respectively the fourth and sixth largest firms in the industry. Because Morrisons focused on the North and Safeway on the South, this merger had the potential to create a fourth national...

We develop a framework of bilateral oligopoly with a sequential two-stage game in which manufacturers engage in bilateral bargains with retailers competing on a downstream market. We show that bargaining outcomes depend on three different bargaining forces and can be interpreted in terms of...