Price and Nonprice Rivalry in Oligopoly : The Integrated Battleground

The theory of price and quality decision making in industries with a few firms which recognize their mutual interdependence is of increasing interest to economists and policy makers. This book introduces a theory of that decision making, based upon the notion of the industry as a community of agents who are involved in both competitive and co-operative relationships. It develops theories and illustrates methodological approaches to the analysis of price and quality decision making in such instances of a "rivalrous consonance of interests" among firms. Front Matter....Pages i-xx Front Matter....Pages 1-1 On Definitions and the Problems of Measurement....Pages 3-20 Core Characteristics Analysis....Pages 21-49 Rivalrous Consonance: An Approach to Mature Oligopolistic Competition....Pages 50-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Hotelling Models and Other Spatial Analogs....Pages 83-104 Characteristics as Objects of Consumer Preference....Pages 105-126 Game-theoretic and Monopolistic Competition Analyses....Pages 127-152 Pure Competition and Monopoly: A Beginning....Pages 153-173 Front Matter....Pages 175-175 The Isolated Firm and Consumer Benchmarking of Measurable Characteristics....Pages 177-219 Oligopolistic Competition and Consumer Benchmarking in a Rivalrous Consonance Market Structure: Measurable Characteristics....Pages 220-265 Oligopolistic Competition with Scaling of Characteristics....Pages 266-297 Nodal Changes in Brand Locations in Product Space....Pages 298-327 Selling Costs and Cognitive Distancing....Pages 328-388 Front Matter....Pages 389-389 A Final Word....Pages 391-400 Back Matter....Pages 401-429 Oligopolistic industries are communities of firms which are intensely aware of the high visibility of their price and product quality decisions and their impacts upon rivals' profits. This book adopts a novel approach to oligopolies that permits the combination of competition and cooperation, varying the weights given each in accordance with the structure and ethos of individual industries. It develops the theory of rivalrous consonance as a supplement to or substitute for game theory which seeks to develop a "general theory," incorporating a simultaneous determination of price and quality variables for each firm within the context of multifirm interdependence. It presents methodologies and illustrates them to attain operational frameworks for the application of the theory of integrated competition to real world industries. The theory of price and quality decision-making in industries with a few firms which recognize their mutual interdependence is of increasing interest to economists and policy makers. This book introduces a novel theory of that decision-making, based upon the notion of the industry as a community of agents who are involved in both competitive and cooperative relationships. It develops theories and illustrates methodological approaches to the analysis of price and quality decision-making in such instances of a 'rivalrous consonance of interests' among firms An introduction of a theory of oligopoly which is based on the idea that industry is a community of agents involved in both competitive and cooperative relationships. The book develops theories and illustrates methodological approaches to the analysis of price and quality decision making on the basis of this premise Robert E. Kuenne. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.