According to conventional wisdom, multinational firms undertake vertical FDI in order to take advantage of cross-border factor cost differences and source the inputs from abroad at better terms. Recent empirical findings though document that this is not always the case. We provide theoretical...

We study upstream horizontal mergers and their potential efficiency gains. We show that an upstream horizontal merger can give rise to two efficiency-enhancing effects when firms trade through two-part tariffs. It increases R&D investments and decreases wholesale prices when downstream...

We study final product manufacturers’ incentives to introduce new products into the market and how they are affected by a merger among them. We show that when manufacturers distribute their products through multi-product retailers, a manufacturers merger, although it leads to an increase in...

We provide an alternative explanation for the commonly observed FDI in developed countries (DCs) considering a vertically related market structure and endogenizing vertical technology transfer (VTT). We show that even though VTT is more costly in a less developed country (LDC), a multinational...

We study upstream horizontal mergers and their potential efficiency gains. We show that an upstream horizontal merger can give rise to two efficiency-enhancing effects when firms trade through two-part tariffs. It increases R&D investments and decreases wholesale prices when downstream...

We explore the incentives of a vertically integrated incumbent firm to license the production technology of its core input to an external firm, transforming the licensee into its input supplier. We find that the incumbent opts for licensing even when licensing also transforms the licensee into...

This paper explores the incentives of competing firms to outsource to a common supplier and shows that firms outsource even when the supplier does not have a cost advantage in input production. The suppliers contract offers generate cost asymmetry, alter product market competition, and improve...

We examine the incentives and implications of supplier encroachment, when production of the final product requires multiple complementary inputs and each firm is specialized in the production of one input. Entry of a supplier into the final product market gives rise to cross-supply of inputs. We...

According to conventional wisdom, multinational firms undertake vertical FDI in order to take advantage of cross-border factor cost differences and source the inputs from abroad at better terms. Recent empirical findings though document that this is not always the case. We provide theoretical...

We study a multinational enterprise's (MNE) choice of foreign direct investment (FDI) mode in a vertically related market with local input sourcing. We show that the vertical structure of the market and its features play a crucial role for the MNE's decision: backward linkages, enhanced upstream...