Entry Deterrence under Agency Constraints

2017

We study a two-period entry model where the incumbent, privately informed about his cost of production, makes a long run investment choice along with a pricing decision. Investment is costreducing and its effects are assumed to differ across incumbent's types, as a result investment plays a double role as a commitment variable and, along with price, as a signal. We ask whether and how investment decisions allow the incumbent to limit entry into the market. We find that the incumbent will never undertake strategic investment to deter profitable entry, because when incumbent's costs are private information the signaling role of investment cancels out its value of commitment.

2017

We study a two-period entry model where the incumbent, privately informed about his cost of production, makes a long run investment choice along with a pricing decision. Investment is costreducing and its effects are assumed to differ across incumbent’s types, as a result investment plays a double role as a commitment variable and, along with price, as a signal. We ask whether and how investment decisions allow the incumbent to limit entry into the market. We find that the incumbent will never undertake strategic investment to deter profitable entry, because when incumbent’s costs are private information the signaling role of investment cancels out its value of commitment.

Economics Bulletin, 2001

In this paper, we summarize the findings of a series of our papers on the relationship between financial contracting and the game of entry−deterrence in a dynamic context.The incumbent has private information about its cost and enters into an agency relationship with a lender in each of the two periods. We examine the effect of this agency relationship on the probability of entry and limit pricing on the one hand and the effect of the game of entry−deterrence on the form of the financial contract on the other. The three papers make different assumptions about the uncertainty of demand and the informational structure.

2005

In the paper we analyze how the possibility of revealing information to a competitor alters the entry/investment behavior of a first entrant. We show that once it has entered the market, the firm might refrain from making further profitable investments in order to hide information from the competitor. Moreover, we show that before entering the market, the first entrant anticipates that there is a strategic advantage in choosing an initially small scale of entry: in this way it "commits" itself to revealing the true state of the market with its subsequent decisions and this fact is beneficial since it induces the competitor to postpone entry into market.

2007

We study competition in experimental markets in which two incumbents face entry by three other firms. Our treatments vary with respect to three factors: sequential vs. block or simultaneous entry, the cost functions of entrants and the amount of time during which incumbents are protected from entry. Before entry incumbents are able to collude in all cases. When all firms' costs are the same entry always leads consumer surplus and profits to their equilibrium levels. When entrants are more efficient than incumbents, entry leads consumer surplus to equilibrium. However, total profits remain below equilibrium, due to the fact that the inefficient incumbents produce too much and efficient entrants produce too little. Market behavior is satisfactory from the consumers' standpoint, but does not yield adequate signals to other potential entrants. These results are not affected by whether entry is simultaneous or sequential. The length of the incumbency phase does have some subtle effects.

Economic Theory, 2003

In this paper, we analyze the interaction between an incumbent rm's nancial contract with a bank and its product market decisions in the face of the threat of entry, in a dynamic model. The main results of the paper are: there exists a separating equilibrium with no limit pricing the low-cost incumbent r e p a ys more to the bank in the rst period, due to the threat of entry and there are parameter values for which the bank makes more pro ts with the threat of entry than without.

Department of Economics University of Siena, 2009

When renegotiation under incomplete contracts follows the outside option principle, hold-up may occur as the ex-post degree of competition increases on investor's side. However, under this framework, asset specificity may play the counterintuitive role of an entry deterrence device, thus decreasing the probability of hold-up. Our result contrasts with standard literature in three respects: i) an equilibrium with overinvestment may emerge; ii) the'intimidating effect'of overinvestment acts as an endogenous enforcement device; iii) a ...

2013

Researchers have written extensively on the impact that strategic alliances between airlines have on airfare, but little is known of the market entry deterrent impact of strategic alliances. Using a structural econometric model, this paper examines the market entry deterrent impact of codesharing, a form of strategic alliance, between incumbent carriers in domestic air travel markets. We find that a specific type of codesharing between market incumbents has a market entry deterrent effect to Southwest Airlines, but not other potential entrants. We quantify the extent to which market incumbents’ codesharing influences market entry cost of potential entrants.

South East European Journal of Economics and Business, 2021

This paper aims to identify the possible implications of quantity competition in markets with differentiated products on entry deterrence. If capacity commitments characterise this industry, quantities can be expected as the choice variable of rational players, even in the presence of product differentiation. Different equilibria of a static game occur depending on the degree of asymmetry of players, incumbent and entrant, which will crucially affect the shape of their best response functions. Asymmetry can stem from players’ advantage in demand and costs, their different objective functions, or the first-mover advantage. We will analyse entry where incumbent maximises the weighted average of profit and revenue while entrant is maximising profit. The reduction of asymmetry may intensify competition in the industry and, consequently, reduce entry barriers. Our findings provide an insight that could be used for practical recommendations for conducting competition policy and other sect...

European Economic Review, 1997

In this paper we show that in an oligopolistic industry that consists of identical firms, a subset of firms may find it optimal to commit to face asymmetric information about their agents' operations. Therefore some firms may choose to incur info~ational agency costs, even though information is availabte at no cost. The commitment to face asymmetric information is also a commitment on the part of the firm not to extract the entire agent's surplus and so agents have incentive to make a specific investment that increases firms expected profits. The level of this investment increases with the proportion of firms that are not informed.