This review is motivated by our recognition that an adequate and reliable electricity supply is a critical element in economic growth. From a customer’s perspective, electricity has several distinct attributes: quality, reliability, time of use, consumption (kW h) volume, maximum demand (kW), and environmental impact. A differentiated product can be formed by packaging its non-price attributes ...

Neurofibromin, the product of the neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) gene, is a -250 kDa protein expressed predominantly in cortical neurons and oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) and sensory neurons and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS). To gain insight into the biological role of neurofibromin in Schwann cells, the modulation of NFZ gene expression in a Schwan...

The existing literaturewhich analyses the relationship between the product differentiation degree and the sustainability of a collusive agreement on price assumes that firms cannot price discriminate, and concludes that there is a negative relationship between the product differentiation degree and the critical discount factor. This paper, in contrast, assumes that firms are able to price discr...

In this note we construct a simple international differentiated duopoly model that involves a divisionalization decision. It will be shown that the number of third market divisions of a parent firm with a cost advantage is relatively large. The results imply that the cost competitiveness of one country’s firm will be magnified through divisionalization decisions.

By studying the effect of different patterns of demand in an evolutionary selection model this paper shows how product differentiation reduces competitive selection pressure and thus increases the chances for the coexistence of firms. With the example of a duopoly it shows that: (1) a monopoly is the likely outcome of competition in homogeneous products, (2) although product differentiation doe...

We investigate a dynamic advertising model where product quality is endogenous. In the differential game between single-product firms, there exists a parameter range where the low-quality firm uses a more efficient advertising technology and earns higher profits than the rival. Moreover, we show that equilibrium qualities are the same under duopoly, multiproduct monopoly and social planning, th...

We start the survey by reviewing the implications of horizontal and vertical product differentiation on market structure under the assumption of single-product firms. Then, we analyse the main results of the multi-product firm models, both when variants are assumed differentiated in vertical attributes only and when variants are assumed differentiated in two dimensions (vertical and horizontal)...

Product proliferation and demand uncertainty result in material requirement planning difficulties, which give rise to high inventories and low customer service. A design concept, delayed product differentiation, is advocated for reducing the impact due to inaccurate forecasts and shortening the order response time. In this paper, a dynamic programming model using an AND/OR graph is constructed ...

Since Kreps and Scheinkman's seminal article (1983) a large number of papers have analyzed capacity constraints' potential to relax price competition. However, the ensuing literature has assumed that products are either perfect or very close substitutes. Therefore none of the papers has investigated the interaction between capacity constraints and substantial local monopoly power. The aim of th...

This paper studies equilibrium incentives in a vertically differentiated duopoly with price competition. We analyze one simultaneous-move game and two sequential-move games. In a simultaneous-move game, firms' managers determine their prices simultaneously in the first stage of the game and in the second stage two firms determine incentive schemes. One sequential-move game considers the case in...