Author: | Klempereer, P. Padilla, J. |
Title: | Do firms' product lines include too many varieties? |
Journal: | RAND Journal of Economics
1997 : AUTUMN, VOL. 28:3, p. 472-488 |
Index terms: | COMPANIES PRODUCTS ECONOMICS |
Language: | eng |
Abstract: | A firm that offers an additional product can capture business from rival firms fro other products when consumers prefer to concentrate their purchases at a single supplier. This may lead firms to offer excessive product variety from the social standpoint. A firm may even completely foreclose competing firms from the market by introducing a new product. Forbidding new product introductions, forbidding mergers that broaden firms' product lines, and forbidding Sunday shopping may sometimes be appropriate public policies. |
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