This paper provides insights about when versioning is an optimal strategy for information goods. Our characterization of this class of goods is that variable costs are invariant with quality, including the special case of zero variable costs. Our analysis assumes a monopoly firm that has an...

The merger of distributed object technology, agent systems and electronic commerce enables a new generation of useful information services. With the advent of interoperable information services, markets featuring software agents as information service/product providers can be created. Meta...

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This paper analyzes electronic marketplaces with different ownership structures: biased marketplaces and neutral marketplaces. Biased marketplaces can be either buyer-owned or supplier-owned, whereas neutral marketplaces are owned by independent third parties. We develop a single-period model,...

We develop an analytical framework to investigate the competitive implications of personalized pricing (PP), whereby firms charge different prices to different consumers based on their willingness to pay. We embed PP in a model of vertical product differentiation and show how it affects firms'...

Network caches are the storage centers in the supply chain for content delivery---the digital equivalent of warehouses. Operated by access networks and other operators, they provide benefits to content publishers in the forms of bandwidth cost reduction, response time improvement, and handling...

This paper studies product bundling in a distribution channel where a downstream retailer combines component goods produced by separate manufacturers acting independently. Past literature offers deep insights about bundling by a single firm whose unit costs are not impacted by choice of selling...

Firms that serve a large market with many diverse consumer types use discriminatory or nonlinear pricing to extract higher revenue, inducing consumers to separate by self-selecting from a large number of tariff options. But the extent of price discrimination must often be tempered by the high...