TY - JOUR
T1 - Product boundary, vertical competition, and the double mark-up problem
AU - CHENG, Kwok Hon, Leonard
AU - NAHM, Jae
PY - 2007/6/1
Y1 - 2007/6/1
N2 - We develop a model in which a main product (called product A) provides a performance quality z by itself, whereas a complementary product (called product B) is useless by itself but enhances the main product's performance quality to q > z. This asymmetric complementarity gives rise to the following results. First, if z is relatively small, then firms A and B behave as if the products are symmetrically complementary with the usual double marginalization problem. Second, if z is sufficiently large, then firms A and B price their products as if they are independent. Third, over a certain range of intermediate z, no pure-strategy Nash equilibrium exists.
AB - We develop a model in which a main product (called product A) provides a performance quality z by itself, whereas a complementary product (called product B) is useless by itself but enhances the main product's performance quality to q > z. This asymmetric complementarity gives rise to the following results. First, if z is relatively small, then firms A and B behave as if the products are symmetrically complementary with the usual double marginalization problem. Second, if z is sufficiently large, then firms A and B price their products as if they are independent. Third, over a certain range of intermediate z, no pure-strategy Nash equilibrium exists.
UR - http://commons.ln.edu.hk/sw_master/1515
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38349010460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1756-2171.2007.tb00077.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1756-2171.2007.tb00077.x
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
SN - 0741-6261
VL - 38
SP - 447
EP - 466
JO - RAND Journal of Economics
JF - RAND Journal of Economics
IS - 2
ER -