The traditional wisdom holds that the benefits of a decentralized channel structure arise from downstream competitive relationships. In contrast, Arya and Mittendorf (2007) showed that the value of decentralization can also arise from upstream interaction when the downstream firm conveys...

This paper explores the effects of innovation efficiency on technology gap and product diversity between a leading firm and its competitor. Our analysis shows some interesting results: when innovation efficiency is sufficiently large and increases, the leading firm may expand technology gap, and...

Consumers need not evaluate all available product information before making a purchase. This may arise because shopping environments prevent a full evaluation (e.g. online). We develop a model of simultaneous search in which consumers have limited ability in product evaluation in order to study...

An online shopping intermediary is an internet platform on which consumers and third-party sellers transact. Shopping intermediaries provide a search environment (e.g., search aids) to lower consumers’ search costs incurred when finding and evaluating sellers’ products. We study strategic...

We consider a theoretical setting in which firms carry multiple products and consumers incur evaluation costs, not only across firms, but also within firms. Consumers judiciously decide the number of firms to include in their consideration sets as well as how many products from those firms. This...

We analyze a duopoly game in which products are initially differentiatedin variety and quality. Each consumer has a most preferred variety and aquality valuation. Customization provides ideal varieties but has noeffect on product qualities. The firms first choose whether to customizetheir...

We follow the framework in Arya and Mittendorf's 2011 Rand Journal of Economics paper but extend their analysis by investigating supplier(s)' equilibrium choices of disclosure or confidentiality regarding their contract terms with the downstream retailers. In the case of a common supplier, we...