IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/annopr/v238y2016i1d10.1007_s10479-015-2099-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of equity and equality on stability and collusion in a decentralized network

Author

Listed:
  • Omkar D. Palsule-Desai

    (Indian Institute of Management Indore)

Abstract

We develop a noncooperative game theoretic model to examine network performance and stability related implications of allocation mechanisms that endogenously balance equity vis-à-vis equality, and hence, the degree of collusion among the network firms in a decentralized setting. We obtain the structural results and bounds for our model parameters in this regard by focusing on two important factors: (i) synergy between the firms, and (ii) the number of network firms. Our contribution to the existing literature is threefold in showing that: (i) perfect equality among the network firms can be suboptimal, (ii) explicit cooperation among the firms is not always necessary for the efficient network performance, and (iii) the network firms do not completely collude, and yet, network stability can be enhanced. By particularly modeling a two-tier network, we exhibit our results in a decentralized setting and highlight the role of a coordinating agent in enhancing competitiveness of the network firms. We demonstrate that inefficiencies and instability of decentralization can be eliminated by incorporating an additional degree of freedom in the network formation game. Our model and the structural results are applicable to networks such as producers’ cooperatives, cartels, exclusive production facilities, industrial clusters, joint production and research facilities, etc., wherein the conflicts of equity–equality and degree of collusion are predominant.

Suggested Citation

  • Omkar D. Palsule-Desai, 2016. "Impact of equity and equality on stability and collusion in a decentralized network," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 238(1), pages 411-447, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:238:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-015-2099-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-015-2099-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-015-2099-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10479-015-2099-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Cornes & Roger Hartley, 2002. "Joint Production Games with Mixed Sharing Rules," Keele Economics Research Papers KERP 2002/16, Centre for Economic Research, Keele University.
    2. Hans-Peter Weikard & Michael Finus & Juan-Carlos Altamirano-Cabrera, 2006. "The impact of surplus sharing on the stability of international climate agreements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 209-232, April.
    3. Björn Bartling & Ferdinand A. von Siemens, 2010. "Equal Sharing Rules in Partnerships," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 166(2), pages 299-320, June.
    4. Amartya K. Sen, 1966. "Labour Allocation in a Cooperative Enterprise," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 33(4), pages 361-371.
    5. Stephen W. Salant & Sheldon Switzer & Robert J. Reynolds, 1983. "Losses From Horizontal Merger: The Effects of an Exogenous Change in Industry Structure on Cournot-Nash Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(2), pages 185-199.
    6. Olof Johansson-Stenman & James Konow, 2010. "Fair Air: Distributive Justice and Environmental Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 147-166, June.
    7. Jackson, Matthew O., 2005. "Allocation rules for network games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 128-154, April.
    8. Jackson, Matthew O. & Wolinsky, Asher, 1996. "A Strategic Model of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 44-74, October.
    9. Palsule-Desai, Omkar D. & Tirupati, Devanath & Chandra, Pankaj, 2013. "Stability issues in supply chain networks: Implications for coordination mechanisms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 179-193.
    10. Omkar D. Palsule-Desai, 2015. "Complete Versus Partial Collusion in Competing Coalitions," International Game Theory Review (IGTR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(01), pages 1-43.
    11. Heintzelman, Martin D. & Salant, Stephen W. & Schott, Stephan, 2009. "Putting free-riding to work: A Partnership Solution to the common-property problem," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 309-320, May.
    12. Petit, Maria Luisa & Tolwinski, Boleslaw, 1999. "R&D cooperation or competition?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 185-208, January.
    13. Claude d'Aspremont & Alexis Jacquemin & Jean Jaskold Gabszewicz & John A. Weymark, 1983. "On the Stability of Collusive Price Leadership," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 17-25, February.
    14. Anthony Creane & Carl Davidson, 2004. "Multidivisional firms, internal competition, and the merger paradox," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 951-977, November.
    15. Bloch, Francis, 1996. "Sequential Formation of Coalitions in Games with Externalities and Fixed Payoff Division," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 90-123, May.
    16. Nitzan, Shmuel & Ueda, Kaoru, 2011. "Prize sharing in collective contests," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 678-687, June.
    17. Helder Vasconcelos, 2010. "Efficiency Gains And Structural Remedies In Merger Control," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 742-766, December.
    18. Palsule-Desai, Omkar D., 2015. "Cooperatives for fruits and vegetables in emerging countries: Rationalization and impact of decentralization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 114-140.
    19. Moulin, Herve, 2002. "Axiomatic cost and surplus sharing," Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, in: K. J. Arrow & A. K. Sen & K. Suzumura (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 289-357, Elsevier.
    20. Joel G. Maxcy, 2007. "Progressive Revenue Sharing in MLB: The Effect on Player Transfers," Working Papers 0728, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    21. Yury Nikulin, 2009. "Stability and accuracy functions in a coalition game with bans, linear payoffs and antagonistic strategies," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 25-35, November.
    22. Eliane Catilina & Robert Feinberg, 2006. "Market Power and Incentives to Form Research Consortia," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 28(2), pages 129-144, March.
    23. Stef Tijs & Maurice Koster, 1998. "General aggregation of demandand cost sharing methods," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 84(0), pages 137-164, December.
    24. Jonathan Levin & Steven Tadelis, 2005. "Profit Sharing and the Role of Professional Partnerships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(1), pages 131-171.
    25. Iwan Bos & Joseph E. Harrington, Jr, 2010. "Endogenous cartel formation with heterogeneous firms," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(1), pages 92-117, March.
    26. K. Sridhar Moorthy, 1988. "Strategic Decentralization in Channels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 335-355.
    27. Omkar D. Palsule-Desai & Katta G. Murty, 2015. "Procurement, Production and Marketing at Supply-Driven Milk and Milk Products Cooperative," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Katta G. Murty (ed.), Case Studies in Operations Research, edition 127, chapter 4, pages 61-81, Springer.
    28. John S. Heywood & Matthew Mcginty, 2007. "Convex Costs And The Merger Paradox Revisited," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(2), pages 342-349, April.
    29. Zhou, Wen, 2008. "Endogenous horizontal mergers under cost uncertainty," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 903-912, July.
    30. Tijs, S.H. & Koster, M.A.L., 1998. "General aggregation of demand and cost sharing methods," Other publications TiSEM 43bb1596-ff5b-4567-a25f-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Goutam Sutar & Rakesh Arrawatia & Krantiraditya Dhalmahapatra & Ashish Garg & Deepak Kumar, 2023. "Performance assessment of Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCSs): an AHP based composite index approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 326(2), pages 751-782, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Omkar Palsule-Desai, 2016. "Impact of equity and equality on stability and collusion in a decentralized network," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 238(1), pages 411-447, March.
    2. László Á. Kóczy, 2018. "Partition Function Form Games," Theory and Decision Library C, Springer, number 978-3-319-69841-0, September.
    3. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    4. Palsule-Desai, Omkar D., 2015. "Cooperatives for fruits and vegetables in emerging countries: Rationalization and impact of decentralization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 114-140.
    5. Roman Inderst & Frank P. Maier-Rigaud & Ulrich Schwalbe, 2014. "Umbrella Effects," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 739-763.
    6. Mariana Cunha & Paula Sarmento, 2014. "Does Vertical Integration Promote Downstream Incomplete Collusion? An Evaluation of Static and Dynamic Stability," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-38, March.
    7. Bakaouka, Elpiniki & Escrihuela-Villar, Marc & Ferrarese, Walter, 2024. "Horizontal mergers with Bertrand competition and convex costs," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 60-67.
    8. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2007:i:12:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Mariana Cunha & Paula Sarmento & Hélder Vasconcelos, 2014. "Uncertain Efficiency Gains and Merger Policy," FEP Working Papers 527, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    10. Kim, Chongmin & Shin, Hyukseung, 2002. "Endogenous formation of coalitions with composite goods," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1491-1511, December.
    11. Thoron, Sylvie, 2004. "Which acceptable agreements are equilibria?," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 111-134, January.
    12. Eyckmans, Johan & Finus, Michael & Mallozzi, Lina, 2011. "A New Class of Welfare Maximizing Stable Sharing Rules for Partition Function Games with Externalities," Working Papers 2011/08, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    13. Thomas Giebe & Miyu Lee, 2020. "Competitors in merger control: Shall they be merely heard or also listened to?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 431-453, June.
    14. John S. Heywood & Matthew McGinty, 2008. "Leading and Merging: Convex Costs, Stackelberg, and the Merger Paradox," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(3), pages 879-893, January.
    15. Marco Marini, 2007. "An Overview of Coalition & Network Formation Models for Economic Applications," Working Papers 0712, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2007.
    16. Palsule-Desai, Omkar D., 2021. "Multi-product supply networks: Implications of intermediaries," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(3), pages 909-929.
    17. Artz, Benjamin & Heywood, John S. & McGinty, Matthew, 2009. "The merger paradox in a mixed oligopoly," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-10, March.
    18. Foucart, Renaud & Wan, Cheng, 2018. "Strategic decentralization and the provision of global public goods," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 537-558.
    19. Heywood, John S. & McGinty, Matthew, 2011. "Cross-border mergers in a mixed oligopoly," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 382-389.
    20. Ray, Debraj & Vohra, Rajiv, 2015. "Coalition Formation," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    21. Argenton, Cédric, 2019. "Colluding on excluding," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 194-206.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:238:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-015-2099-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.