Endogenous targeted pricing with vertical structure

Targeted pricing is an aggressive strategy that steals demand from rivals. Previous studies have shown that a firm prefers targeted pricing to uniform pricing when another supply chain is vertically integrated and thus its downstream firm purchases an input at a constant price. This study relaxes the assumption that supply chains are vertically integrated. When supply chains are vertically separated, downstream firms face increasing input-supply function. Then, targeted pricing reduces the rival's demand and hence its input price, which intensifies competition. This negative effect is so severe in our Hotelling model that a firm prefers uniform pricing to targeted pricing when another supply chain is vertically separated.