Market Evolution, 1995 Competition and Cooperation Studies in Industrial Organization Series, Vol. 20

Market Evolution: Competition and Cooperation is a selection of papers presented at the recent meeting of the European Association of Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE). The volume brings together twenty high-quality papers reflecting frontier research in modern industrial organization. The contributions cover a broad spectrum of increasing theoretical, empirical and policy issues, including analyses of the nature of the firm, product differentiation, research and development, strategic alliances, information sharing in the banking sector, exchange rate pass-through in international competition, labor unionization and product rivalry, buyer-supplier bargaining, multimarket competition and related entry, entry and exit processes, multinational enterprises in the Third World, European integration and the restructuring of Eastern Europe. From a theoretical perspective, many chapters apply game theory to the analysis of firm behaviors and market competition. Moreover, a large number of the studies contain a significant empirical part, mainly by employing econometric techniques, to test the hypotheses derived from modern industrial organization theories. Data from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the European Union are presented and analyzed.

1. The Study of Competition and Cooperation.- I. Fundamental Issues: The Theory of the Firm.- 2. On the Nature of the Firm.- 3. The Maximization Assumption, Profit Maximization and Not-for-Profit Hospitals.- II. Within-Market Competition: Research and Development, Product Differentiation, Strategic Partnering and Information Sharing.- 4. Should Cooperative R&D Be Subsidized?: An Empirical Analysis.- 5. Firm Size and Efficiency in R&D Spending.- 6. Commitment by Delegation: What is “Strategic” about Strategic Alliances?.- 7. The Principle of Minimum Differentiation Revisited: Cournot versus Bertrand.- 8. Credit Market Structure and Information-Sharing Mechanisms.- III. Across-Market Competition: Spillovers Across Country, Factor and Product Markets.- 9. Product Differentiation, Market Structure and Exchange Rate Passthrough.- 10. Imperfect Product Competition and the Capital-Labor Ratio of a Unionized Firm: Some Theory and Evidence from Belgian Manufacturing Firms.- 11. Buyer-Supplier Bargaining and Intra-Industry Competition.- 12. Capacity as a Commitment Instrument in Multi-Market Competition.- 13. Extended Rivalry and Competitive Advantage in the New Small Firm.- IV. Competition over Time: Entry and Exit Processes.- 14. The Post-Entry Performance of New Firms.- 15. Profitability and Number of Firms: Their Dynamic Interaction in Dutch Retailing.- 16. Sunk Costs and the Dynamics of Entry in Portuguese Manufacturing.- 17. Determinants of New Firm Formation in West German Regions 1986–1989: An Empirical Analysis.- V. Policy Issues: Integration of Europe and Development of the Third World.- 18. Problems of Restructuring in Eastern Europe.- 19. Principles of Economic Policy in the Common Market.- 20. Output Tradability and the Regulation of a Multinational Firm.-Authors Index.