Firms often have to make their production decisions under conditions of demand uncertainty. This is especially true for product categories such as automobiles and technology goods where the lead time needed for manufacturing forces firms to make production decisions well in advance of the...

In marketing durable goods, manufacturers use varying degrees of leasing and selling to consumers, e.g., cars, photo-copiers, personal computers, airplanes, etc. The question that this raises is whether the distinction between leases and sales is simply one of price, or whether the proportion of...

Although negotiating over prices with sellers is common in many markets such as automobiles, furniture, services, consumer electronics, etc., it is not clear how a haggling price policy can help a firm gain a strategic advantage or whether it is even sustainable in a competitive market. In this...

A large literature in economics and marketing studies the problem of manufacturer's designing contracts that give a retailer appropriate incentives to make decisions that are optimal from the manufacturer's point of view (see, for example, Spengler 1950, Jeuland and Shugan 1983, McGuire and...

This paper analyzes the problems associated with marketing a durable through leases and sales. Academic research in this area has argued that in a monopolistic environment, leasing dominates selling. Hence, leasing and selling should not co-exist and the firm should concentrate its efforts...

The issue of product obsolescence is addressed by examining the optimal sales strategy of a monopolist firm that may introduce an improved version of its current product. Consumers' expectations of a forthcoming product lowers the price that they are willing to pay for the current product...

Given that durable products are long-lived, there exists the possibility of secondary markets for used products as well as the potential for product obsolescence. This is an important issue in markets where technology changes rapidly, because the introduction of new versions of a product can...