This paper presents a dynamic investment game in which firms that are initially identical develop assets which are specialized to different market segments. The model assumes there are increasing returns to investment in a segment, for example, due to word-of-mouth or learning curve effects. I...

Many customers choose products based on information from social media influencers. Companies can pay these influencers to promote their products. We develop a model in which customers read an influencer's sponsored post for a mix of entertainment and product information, and those who purchase...

Although some firms use dynamic pricing to respond to demand fluctuations, other firms claim that fairness concerns prevent them from raising prices during periods when demand exceeds capacity. This paper explores conditions in which fairness concerns can or cannot cause shortages. In our model,...

I develop a dynamic investment game with a "memoryless" R&D process in which an incumbent and an entrant can invest in a new technology, and the entrant can also invest in the old technology. I show that an increase in the probability of successfully implementing a technology can cause the...

Many firms buy a production input from a competitor. However, managers often worry that this supply relationship may give their competitor valuable knowledge about new product innovations. We develop a two-period model in which a firm can buy an input from a competitor or a third party in each...

Firms often learn about their own capabilities through their products' successes and failures. This paper explores the interaction between learning about capabilities and product strategy in a formal model. We consider a firm that can launch a sequence of products, where each product's success...

We model how quality concerns affect the relationship between a firm and its supplier. A firm concerned about uncontractible quality for a customizable good has to pay higher prices to sustain a relationship with the supplier. If the customizable good has sufficiently volatile demand, then a...