Relazioni verticali e organizzazione d’impresa: nuove tematiche sul fronte dell’oligopolio / Vertical relations and firms organization:new issues on the oligopoly front

The paper discusses the evolution of the oligopoly theory, starting from Augustin Cournot’s seminal contribution until the most recent developments that extensively exploit the sophisticated tools derived from game theory and mechanism design. We then show how the oligopoly models have been used to understand the vertical organizations of firms operating in productive chains. We examine the determinants of the firms’ decision on the level of vertical integration, as well as the welfare consequences of the vertical contracts signed between vertically disintegrated firms operating in two different vertical stages. We finally discuss the effects of the decision on the level of vertical integration on product quality and on the innovation level.