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Equilibrium mergers in a composite good industry with efficiencies

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  • Cristina Pardo-Garcia
  • Jose Sempere-Monerris

Abstract

This paper studies equilibrium merging behavior in composite good industries. Component producers face the option to either merge with a similar component producer (horizontal merger) or a complementary one (vertical merger) of a composite good. Focusing only on strategic reasons, vertical mergers arise at equilibrium only when composite goods are very differentiated or when the number of producers is large while horizontal mergers arise otherwise. When efficiencies are considered, higher marginal cost savings are required for a horizontal merger in a composite industry not to result in a price increase as compared with those required for a regular industry. This finding can be used by antitrust authorities to be more demanding when dealing with horizontal mergers in composite goods industries. Copyright The Author(s) 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Cristina Pardo-Garcia & Jose Sempere-Monerris, 2015. "Equilibrium mergers in a composite good industry with efficiencies," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 101-127, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:6:y:2015:i:1:p:101-127
    DOI: 10.1007/s13209-014-0121-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Jéssica Dutra & Tarun Sabarwal, 2020. "Antitrust analysis with upward pricing pressure and cost efficiencies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-31, January.
    2. KORNEK, Urik & LESSMANN, Kai & TULKENS, Henry, 2014. "Transferable and non transferable utility implementations of coalitional stability in integrated assessment models," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2014035, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. Álvarez-SanJaime, Óscar & Cantos-Sanchez, Pedro & Moner-Colonques, Rafael & Sempere-Monerris, Jose J., 2020. "Pricing and infrastructure fees in shaping cooperation in a model of high-speed rail and airline competition," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 22-41.
    4. Chernenko, Natalya & Moiseienko, Tetiana & Korohodova, Olena & Hlushchenko, Yaroslava, 2021. "Analysis of mergers and acquisitions between 2009 and 2020," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 30(4), pages 1-18.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Composite goods; Substitutes; Complements; Horizontal merger; Vertical merger; Efficiency effects; Diversion ratio; L13; L41;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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