This paper is motivated by the ubiquitous practical existence of common retailer distribution channels (e.g., a grocery store offering multiple brands of the same product). Demand interdependence (product substitutability) among various brands is critical and thus we investigate its impact on...

This paper studies probabilistic selling for vertically differentiated products, whereby consumers do not know the exact identity of a product until after making the purchase. An important feature of probabilistic selling overlooked by previous literature is that it changes the product line...

Two-sided platforms are often coupled with exclusive hardware products that connect two sides of users, the consumers of the hardware product (i.e., buyers) and the application developers (i.e., sellers). The hardware product in the platform business model introduces three important issues that...

This paper examines the effect of product substitutability on the equilibrium profits in a distribution channel, where two symmetric manufacturers sell substitutable products to consumers through a non-exclusive retailer. Conventional wisdom suggests that the retailer will be better off while...

Previous works on channel pricing in a symmetric setting routinely assume either linear demand functions or symmetric-at-symmetric prices when analyzing seemingly intractable demands or a general reduced-form demand structure. Through one classic channel structure, the common retailer channel,...

This book treats the subject of global optimization with minimal restrictions on the behavior on the objective functions. In particular, optimal conditions were developed for a class of noncontinuous functions characterized by their having level sets that are robust. The integration-based...