Emanuele Bacchiega

Process and product innovation in a vertically differentiated industry

We examine a vertically differentiated duopoly where firms invest in process and product innovation and then compete in prices under full market coverage. We show that (i) process innovation fosters (hinders) product innovation for the low-quality (high-quality) firm; (ii) the firm which is initially more efficient invests more than the rival in process innovation; (iii) if the initial differential between marginal costs is sufficiently high, the demand for the less efficient firm is nil and the duopoly equilibrium does not exist.

Time-to-Market in Vertically Differentiated Industries

We study the introduction of new products in a vertically differentiated industry. Innovative firms have to engage into reducing time-to-market investments in order to shorten the time interval between innovation and sales. Still, these investments generate irreversible costs which have to be put in balance with profits accruing to the firm when starting its sales earlier than otherwise. We characterize the optimal investment policies under various assumptions concerning the market structure.

Strategic accessibility competition

We analyze the effect of competition in market-accessibility enhancement among quality-differentiated firms. Firms are located in regions with different ex-ante transport costs to reach the final market. We characterize the equilibrium of the two-stage game in which firms first invest to improve market accessibility and then compete in prices. Efforts in accessibility improvement crucially depend on the interplay between the willingness to pay for the quality premium of the median consumer and the ex-ante difference in accessibility between regions. From the social standpoint, all the accessibility investment should be carried out by the high-quality firm. Finally quality choice is endogenized.

On MQS regulation, innovation and market coverage

We revisit Maxwells (1998) analysis to show that his results are incompatible with the assumption of full market coverage. As a consequence, the effects of MQS regulation on the high-quality firms incentive to adopt a more efficient technology cannot be assessed in this model.

PROCESS AND PRODUCT INNOVATION IN A VERTICALLY DIFFERENTIATED INDUSTRY

We examine a vertically differentiated duopoly where firms invest in process and product innovation and then compete in prices under full market coverage. We show that (i) process innovation fosters (hinders) product innovation for the low-quality (high-quality) firm; (ii) the firm which is initially more efficient invests more than the rival in process innovation; (iii) if the initial differential between marginal costs is sufficiently high, the demand for the less efficient firm is nil and the duopoly equilibrium does not exist.

Contract contingency in vertically related markets

We study the optimal contract choice of an upstream monopolist producing an essential input that may sell to two vertically differentiated downstream firms. The upstream supplier can offer an exclusive contract to one of the firms or non-exclusive contracts to both firms. Each of the latter can be made contingent or not on the breakdown of the negotiations between the upstream supplier and the rival downstream firm. The distribution of bargaining power during the contract terms negotiations is the main driving force of the monopolists choices. A powerful supplier always opts for an exclusive contract. By contrast, a weaker supplier offers non-exclusive contracts and makes each of them contingent or non-contingent such as to guarantee the most favorable outside option in its negotiations. Our main results hold under an horizontally differentiated downstream market too.

Technology Inertia and the Benefits of Entry

Abstract We study the effects of entry on price in an industry. This assessment is usually carried out under the implicit assumption of “technological inertia”: incumbents cannot change their technologies in response to entry. We remove this assumption by modeling a game where, before quantity competition, firms choose technologies. We identify parameter configurations where, after entry, the incumbent(s) changes technology. This leads either to a higher price after entry or to a “dampening effect” on price reduction. This effect is shown to be relevant when evaluating the welfare gains from measures intended to foster competition by increasing the number of competitors. The converse proposition could be stated for evaluating the social costs of mergers.

Comparative Advantage Under Monopoly: A Note On the Role of Market Power

We argue that it is the number of agents holding market power, rather than the presence of market power itself, that may force Ricardian economies into autarchy. We apply the concepts of monopoly equilibrium by Baldwin (1948) to the model of Cordella and Gabszewicz (1997) to show that, differently from the oligopoly case, trade always arises at a monopoly equilibrium whereas autarchy is never an outcome. As a consequence, monopoly Pareto-dominates oligopoly.

On the Effects of Entry under Flexible Production Techniques: An Example of Quasi-Anticompetitiveness

We study reactions to entry in a Cournot model, contrasting the case where firms are endowed with unchangeable technologies against that where technologies are flexible. By the latter we mean that firms can change the installed production technique at zero cost (fully flexible technologies). We show that when firms are technologically flexible, entry can increase equilibrium prices. The analysis is cast in a short-run time horizon to simplify exposition, but its predictive power may better relate to the long run.