In this study, we examine firms' incentive to offer customized products in addition to their standard products in a competitive environment. We offer several key insights. First, we delineate market conditions in which firms will (will not) offer customized products in addition to their standard...

We consider a problem at the interface of auctions and bundling. Our revenue-maximizing seller seeking to auction one unit each of two complements or substitutes in the best-of-three formats: the auction of the bundle, separate auctions of the individual items, and a combinatorial auction. We...

Online retailing boasts two major advantages: convenience of home shopping and easy access to information. In this paper, I argue that these two features have important implications for retailers' channel and advertising decisions. Two major questions are addressed: When should a conventional...

This paper shows that the analysis of Liu et al. (2004) contains a substantive error—the asserted pure-strategy Nash equilibrium leading to their Theorems 1 and 2 is really not an equilibrium. We show that in their model, either pure-strategy Nash equilibria do not exist or, unlike their...

In a model of vertical differentiation, the principal concern of this paper is to identify sufficient conditions for producing a higher- or lower-quality good to be more profitable (in terms of profits and profit margin). Our basic model considers a scenario where the firms' quality levels are...

In this paper we examine the issue of balancing media advertising (pull strategy) and trade promotions (push strategy) for manufacturers of consumer packaged goods utilizing a three-stage game theoretic analysis and test model's implications with scanner panel data. We develop a model of two...

This paper analyzes the literature concerning models of endogenous mergers. Traditional models of exogenous mergers analyze mergers as isolated phenomena. However, some empirical facts about M&A don't seem to be explained in this literature. Models of endogenous mergers take into account all...

In this paper, we extend the standard Hotelling model of product differentiation to incorporate a second dimension of consumer heterogeneity that relates to the quantity of the product consumers wish to buy. This extension allows us to derive optimal nonlinear pricing rules chosen by competing...

In alliances jointly developing product and market, we first investigate how (a) the number of networks competing to develop a product, (b) the number of alternative technology platforms, and (c) market sensitivity to product development expenditures affect investments of partnering firms. We...

This paper explores whether and how a firm should adapt its strategy in view of consumer use of prior customer ratings. Specifically, we consider optimal pricing and whether the firm should offer an unexpected frill to early customers to enhance their product experiences. We show that if price...