Consider a three-tier industry with a monopolist supplying an essential input to a manufacturer, which in turn sells its product to final consumers through two differentiated retailers. Throughout the supply chain, contracts are linear and secret. In this setting, upon receiving an...

A manufacturer chooses the optimal retail market structure and bilaterally and secretly contracts with each (homogeneous) retailer. In a classic framework without asymmetric information, the manufacturer sells through a single exclusive retailer in order to eliminate the opportunism problem....