Laurent Granier

Endogenous mergers and cost heterogeneity

The objective of this article is to analyze the effect of firms’ heterogeneity on their incentives to merge. To reach this target, merger decisions are modelled as endogenous. To simplify the analysis, we focus on the extreme case where merger leads to monopolization. Kamien and Zang (1990, 1993) give monopolization conditions in static and dynamic acquisition games. Introducing cost heterogeneity in a n-firm industry, we provide more general monopolization conditions. Indeed, we show that any industry can be monopolized if cost heterogeneity is large enough. This result provides new information to competition authorities on concentration possibilities and allows them to focus particularly on some industries.

Entry deterrence and mergers under price competition in pharmaceutical markets

After patent expirations in pharmaceutical markets, brand-name laboratories are threatened by generic firms’ entry. To fill the gap in the theoretical literature on this topic, we study brand-name firms’ incentives either to deter entry, or to merge with the entrant. These strategies are considered along with the possibility of the brand-name firm producing its own generic drug, called a pseudo-generic drug. Using a vertical differentiation model with Bertrand–Stackelberg competition, we show that each strategy, merging and deterring entry, may be Nash equilibrium, according to the generic firms setup cost level and to the rate of discount.