[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revind/v44y2014i3p255-275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cartelization Through Buyer Groups

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Doyle
  • Martijn Han
Abstract
Retailers may enjoy stable cartel rents in their output market through the formation of a buyer group in their input market. A buyer group allows retailers to commit credibly to increased input prices, which serve to reduce combined final output to the monopoly level; increased input costs are then refunded from suppliers to retailers through slotting allowances or rebates. The stability of such an ‘implied cartel’ depends on the retailers’ incentives to source their inputs secretly from a supplier outside of the buyer group arrangement at lower input prices. Cheating is limited if retailers sign exclusive dealing or minimum purchase provisions. We discuss the relevancy of our findings for antitrust policy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Doyle & Martijn Han, 2014. "Cartelization Through Buyer Groups," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(3), pages 255-275, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:44:y:2014:i:3:p:255-275
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-013-9375-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11151-013-9375-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11151-013-9375-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel P. O'Brien & Greg Shaffer, 1992. "Vertical Control with Bilateral Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 299-308, Autumn.
    2. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2007. "Buyer power and supplier incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 647-667, April.
    3. repec:bla:jecsur:v:12:y:1998:i:4:p:333-59 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. B. Douglas Bernheim & Michael D. Whinston, 1998. "Exclusive Dealing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 64-103, February.
    5. Fershtman, Chaim & Judd, Kenneth L, 1987. "Equilibrium Incentives in Oligopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 927-940, December.
    6. Adrian Majumdar, 2005. "Waterbed Effects and Buyer Mergers," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2005-07, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    7. Jeanine Miklós‐Thal & Patrick Rey & Thibaud Vergé, 2011. "Buyer Power And Intrabrand Coordination," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 721-741, August.
    8. Suchan Chae & Paul Heidhues, 2004. "Buyers' Alliances for Bargaining Power," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 731-754, December.
    9. Steven D. Sklivas, 1987. "The Strategic Choice of Managerial Incentives," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(3), pages 452-458, Autumn.
    10. Chen, Zhiqi & Ross, Thomas W., 2003. "Cooperating upstream while competing downstream: a theory of input joint ventures," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 381-397, March.
    11. Christopher M. Snyder, 1996. "A Dynamic Theory of Countervailing Power," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(4), pages 747-769, Winter.
    12. Andreas Irmen, 1998. "Precommitment in Competing Vertical Chains," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 333-359, September.
    13. Øystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind, 2008. "Do Slotting Allowances Harm Retail Competition?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(2), pages 367-384, June.
    14. Leslie M. Marx & Greg Shaffer, 2007. "Upfront payments and exclusion in downstream markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(3), pages 823-843, September.
    15. Roman Inderst, 2008. "Single sourcing versus multiple sourcing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(1), pages 199-213, March.
    16. Yeon‐Koo Che & Ian Gale, 1997. "Buyer Alliances and Managed Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 175-200, March.
    17. Aghion, Philippe & Bolton, Patrick, 1987. "Contracts as a Barrier to Entry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 388-401, June.
    18. Rasmusen, Eric B & Ramseyer, J Mark & Wiley, John S, Jr, 1991. "Naked Exclusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1137-1145, December.
    19. Patrick Rey & Joseph Stiglitz, 1995. "The Role of Exclusive Territories in Producers' Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(3), pages 431-451, Autumn.
    20. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2003. "Bargaining, Mergers, and Technology Choice in Bilaterally Oligopolistic Industries," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19, Spring.
    21. Normann, Hans-Theo & Rösch, Jürgen & Schultz, Luis Manuel, 2012. "Do buyer groups facilitate collusion?," DICE Discussion Papers 74, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    22. Blair,Roger D. & Lafontaine,Francine, 2011. "The Economics of Franchising," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521775892.
    23. Mathewson, Frank & Winter, Ralph A., 1997. "Buyer groups," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 137-164, April.
      • G. Frank Mathewson & Ralph A. Winter, 1995. "Buyer Groups," Working Papers rwinter-96-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    24. Chiara Fumagalli & Massimo Motta, 2006. "Exclusive Dealing and Entry, when Buyers Compete," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 785-795, June.
    25. Salvatore Piccolo & Jeanine Miklós-Thal, 2012. "Colluding through suppliers," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(3), pages 492-513, September.
    26. David Mills, 2010. "Buyer Power and Industry Structure," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(3), pages 213-225, May.
    27. Roman Inderst & Tommaso M. Valletti, 2011. "Buyer Power And The ‘Waterbed Effect’," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 1-20, March.
    28. Katz, Michael L, 1987. "The Welfare Effects of Third-Degree Price Discrimination in," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(1), pages 154-167, March.
    29. Marvel, Howard P. & Yang, Huanxing, 2008. "Group purchasing, nonlinear tariffs, and oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1090-1105, September.
    30. Dana, James D., 2012. "Buyer groups as strategic commitments," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 470-485.
    31. Abito, Jose Miguel & Wright, Julian, 2008. "Exclusive dealing with imperfect downstream competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 227-246, January.
    32. John Simpson & Abraham L. Wickelgren, 2007. "Naked Exclusion, Efficient Breach, and Downstream Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1305-1320, September.
    33. John Asker & Heski Bar-Isaac, 2012. "Vertical Practices Facilitating Exclusion," Working Papers 12-20, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    34. Michael D. Whinston & Ilya R. Segal, 2000. "Naked Exclusion: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(1), pages 296-309, March.
    35. Doucette, William R., 1997. "Influences on member commitment to group purchasing organizations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 183-189, November.
    36. Paul Dobson & Michael Waterson, 1999. "Retailer power: recent developments and policy implications," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 14(28), pages 134-164.
    37. Snyder, Christopher M., 1998. "Why do larger buyers pay lower prices? Intense supplier competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 205-209, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry?," Post-Print halshs-03693440, HAL.
    2. Liesbeth Colen & Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache & Victoria Daskalova & Kjersti Nes, 2020. "Retail alliances in the agricultural and food supply chain," JRC Research Reports JRC120271, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Xiaona Zheng & Luping Sun & Andy A. Tsay, 2018. "Distribution Channel Strategies and Retailer Collusion in a Supply Chain with Multiple Retailers," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 35(03), pages 1-27, June.
    4. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry? [Formation des groupements d'achat : quels effets sur la concurrence dans le commerce de détail ?]," Working Papers halshs-03693440, HAL.
    5. Sahuguet, Nicolas & Walckiers, Alexis, 2017. "A theory of hub-and-spoke collusion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 353-370.
    6. Allain, Marie-Laure & Avignon, Rémi & Chambolle, Claire, 2020. "Purchasing alliances and product variety," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Øystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind, 2017. "Upstream Partnerships among Competitors when Size Matters," CESifo Working Paper Series 6512, CESifo.
    8. Koski, Heli, 2018. "How Do Competition Policy and Data Brokers Shape Product Market Competition?," ETLA Working Papers 61, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    9. Armel Jacques, 2020. "Le contrôle des concentrations dans le secteur de la distribution: application au projet de rachat de Vindémia par GBH," Post-Print hal-03546563, HAL.
    10. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry? [Les centrales d’achat : quels enjeux de concurrence ?]," Working Papers halshs-03693375, HAL.
    11. Armel Jacques, 2019. "Les enjeux du rachat de Vindémia : quelques éléments de théorie économique," Post-Print hal-03546561, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doyle, Chris & Han, Martijn A., 2012. "Cartelization through buyer groups," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2012-059, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    2. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2012-059 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2019. "On the unprofitability of buyer groups when sellers compete," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 265-288.
    4. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2014. "Buyer Group and Buyer Power When Sellers Compete," TSE Working Papers 14-543, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Nov 2017.
    5. Gabrielsen, Tommy Staahl & Johansen, Bjørn Olav, 2015. "Buyer power and exclusion in vertically related markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-18.
    6. Øystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind, 2017. "Upstream Partnerships among Competitors when Size Matters," CESifo Working Paper Series 6512, CESifo.
    7. Chiara Fumagalli & Massimo Motta, 2008. "Buyers’ Miscoordination, Entry and Downstream Competition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1196-1222, August.
    8. Battigalli, Pierpaolo & Fumagalli, Chiara & Polo, Michele, 2007. "Buyer power and quality improvements," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 45-61, June.
    9. Symeonidis, George, 2010. "Downstream merger and welfare in a bilateral oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 230-243, May.
    10. Gratz, Linda & Reisinger, Markus, 2013. "On the competition enhancing effects of exclusive dealing contracts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 429-437.
    11. Kitamura, Hiroshi & Matsushima, Noriaki & Sato, Misato, 2018. "Exclusive contracts with complementary inputs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 145-167.
    12. Hiroshi Kitamura & Noriaki Matsushima & Misato Sato, 2024. "How Does Downstream Firms’ Efficiency Affect Exclusive Supply Agreements?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(2), pages 219-242, March.
    13. Elhauge, Einer & Wickelgren, Abraham L., 2015. "Robust exclusion and market division through loyalty discounts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 111-121.
    14. David E. Mills, 2017. "Buyer‐Induced Exclusive Dealing," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(1), pages 66-81, July.
    15. Sara Fisher Ellison & Christopher M. Snyder, 2010. "Countervailing Power In Wholesale Pharmaceuticals," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 32-53, March.
    16. Jay Pil Choi & Christodoulos Stefanadis, 2018. "Sequential innovation, naked exclusion, and upfront lump-sum payments," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(4), pages 891-915, June.
    17. Dongyeol Lee, 2015. "The Competitive Effect of Exclusive Dealing in the Presence of Renegotiation Breakdown," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 47(1), pages 25-50, August.
    18. Aggey Semenov & Julian Wright, 2011. "Vertical Limit pricing," Working Papers 1104E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    19. Stephen P. King, 2013. "Buyer Groups, Antitrust and Outsiders," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(284), pages 1-18, March.
    20. DeGraba, Patrick, 2013. "Naked exclusion by a dominant input supplier: Exclusive contracting and loyalty discounts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 516-526.
    21. repec:dpr:wpaper:0918 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Cédric Argenton, 2010. "Exclusive Quality," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 690-716, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Buyer groups; Collusion; Cartels; Exclusive dealing; Minimum purchase clauses; Rebates; K21; L13; L41; L42;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:44:y:2014:i:3:p:255-275. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.