Mobile carriers used to enforce service contracts on consumers. However, recently major mobile carriers have eliminated contracts. We investigate carriers' contract and marketing strategies. We identify Expectation-Reality Discrepancy (ERD) as a key determinant. A carrier's ERD is defined as...

This paper investigates a hybrid procurement mechanism that combines a reverse auction with flexible noncompetitive contracts. A buyer adopts such mechanism to procure multiple units of a product from a group of potential suppliers. Specifically, the buyer first offers contracts to some...