This article examines the impact of Wal-Mart Supercenters’ entry on incumbents’ pricing behavior and demand. Using a structural model and milk data from the Dallas/Fort Worth supermarket chains, empirical results show that an expansion of Supercenters caused incumbents to price milk...

This article introduces the Forum by explaining the sequence of events related to the jawboning campaign and subsequent reductions in cereal prices. It also introduces the main issues on the vigor of competition and pricing that are analyzed in subsequent papers. Jawboning as a public policy...

Using monthly IRI scanner data for January 1993 to March 1998, cereal prices declined even after adjusting for trade promotions and reduced manufacturer coupons during the public campaign in 1995 and early 1996, as well as after the industry's announced shelf price reductions in Spring 1996. The...

Commercial sector, during the times of centrally planned economy was particularly neglected in Poland, as in all Eastern European countries. Economic transformation and political changes in the country after 1989 induced the development of the commercial sector. The subjects of the research are...

This paper estimates a structural model of the Brazilian carbonated soft drink industry to test the claim that the observed low prices of low-end entrants owe to marginal cost advantages over the large, established brands, allegedly stemming chiefly from tax evasion. Such entrants, numbering in...

Why do certain firms prosper and grow old while other firms fail? Established knowledge tells us that it is related to the firm’s ability to adapt to market conditions, for example through product diversification, learning-by-doing, and through the adoption of new strategies regarding...

We study the effect of a merger between two Dutch supermarket chains to assess its effect on the depth as well as composition of assortment. We adopt a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits local variation in the merger’s effects, controlling for selection on observables through a...

After a survey of the main agribusiness global value chain analysis methods, the authors propose a larger pattern from the global value chain concept developed by Gereffi. They focus on the necessity of a quantified economic characterization and a diachronic study of the global value chain. This...

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...

Chain-stores now dominate most areas of retailing. While retailers may operate nationally or even internationally, the markets they compete in are largely local. How should they best operate pricing policy in respect of the different markets served - price uniformly across the local markets or...