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Product flexibility and price competition in Hotelling's duopoly

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  • Fleckinger, Pierre
  • Lafay, Thierry

Abstract

In a Hotelling's duopoly with a general transportation cost function, we study competition through catalog: each firm chooses at the same time a price and a location. With simultaneous catalog offers, there is no equilibrium in pure strategies for high valuations of the consumers, while a Stackelberg equilibrium exists under mild conditions. The follower is better off than the leader, whose price is smaller: the location preemption effect is weaker than the price leadership effect. We obtain closed-form solutions for the linear and quadratic cost cases. Using these results, we discuss the nature of competition depending on the relative flexibility of products and prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Fleckinger, Pierre & Lafay, Thierry, 2010. "Product flexibility and price competition in Hotelling's duopoly," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 61-68, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:60:y:2010:i:1:p:61-68
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    2. Kress, Dominik & Pesch, Erwin, 2012. "Sequential competitive location on networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(3), pages 483-499.
    3. Sun, Shuzhen & Liu, Tieming, 2023. "Pricing and sales-effort coordination facing free riding behaviors between a brick-and-mortar retailer and a platform store owned by the manufacturer," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Scott M. Gilpatric & Youping Li, 2021. "Endogenous Price Leadership and Product Positioning," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(2), pages 287-302, March.
    5. Guo, Wen-Chung & Lai, Fu-Chuan & Zeng, Dao-Zhi, 2015. "A Hotelling model with production," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 40-49.
    6. Javier Elizalde & Markus Kinateder & Ignacio Rodríguez-Carreño, 2015. "Entry regulation, firm’s behaviour and social welfare," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 13-31, August.
    7. Han, Haipeng & Lien, Donald & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2022. "Online or face-to-face? Competition among MOOC and regular education providers," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 857-881.
    8. Javier Elizalde & Markus Kinateder & Ignacio Rodríguez-Carreño, 2014. "Entry Regulation in a Linear Market with Elastic Demand," Faculty Working Papers 02/14, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    9. Dimitrios Xefteris & Iván Barreda‐Tarrazona & Aurora García‐Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzís, 2023. "Catalog competition: Theory and experimental evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 122-137, January.

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