This paper examines product return policies in an environment in which consumers differ by the return costs they experience themselves and impose on firms. We examine how firms use information about consumer return costs to customize product return payments, prices, and whether to permit returns...

We analyze a duopolistic model of quality disclosure in which product differentiation can be either horizontal or vertical under two vertically differentiated product attributes. Disclosure is fully revealing in the absence of disclosure cost. When disclosure is costly, firms partially disclose,...

We experimentally investigate the strategic interaction between a product expert and a consumer. The expert privately chooses a ranking methodology to rank two products with uncertain relative merits; the consumer decides whether to acquire the resulting ranking report to guide her product...

A challenge for online retail firms is managing stockouts when substitute products are available. Firms have options to set prices or offer substitute products to retain or release the consumers following stockouts. We develop a game-theoretic model in which competing online firms face the...

We develop a multi-period theoretical model to characterize the relationship between a publication that ranks universities and prospective attendees -- high school students -- who might view the ranking and use it to help decide which university to attend. We assert that published rankings not...