"The discrete choice approach provides an ideal framework for describing the demands for differentiated products and can be used for studying most product differentiation models in the literature. By introducing extra dimensions of product heterogeneity, the framework also provides richer models of firm location and product selection."--BOOK JACKET.
This Handbook explores and critically examines current research in economics and marketing science on key issues in retailing and distribution. Providing a rich perspective for the discussion of public policy, contributions from several disciplines and continents range from the history of chains and the impact of multinational retailers on international trade patterns to US merger policy in the retail context, the rise of the Internet, and consumer-to-consumer sales. The chapters address methodological issues such as the structural estimation of entry games between retailers, productivity measurement when both inputs and output are not fully observable, and demand estimation with variable assortment. Policy issues explored include mergers, zoning, and the regulation of buyer power, while other chapters address some of the recent exciting developments in technology, retail formats, and data availability. The book goes on to study the changes in online retailing and ‘big data’, and to examine competition in specific retail sectors including gasoline stations, automobile dealerships, supermarkets, and ‘big box’ retail. This state-of-the-art Handbook is an essential reference for students and academics of economics and marketing science, and offers an outsider’s perspective to specialists in operations research, data analytics, geography, and sociology.
In this text, experts in the field of retail examine the effects of the contemporary growth in concentration in the European food retailing sector. In particular, the book develops a number of buyer power propositions and builds on the previous work of several of the authors, to consider how the growth of large supermarket chains affects competition in food retailing. The authors outline the theoretical and policy analysis underpinning the work and assess evidence on the size and growth of supermarket chains across the EU. Whilst not entirely critical, they suggest that there is strong evidence in some countries that supermarkets use their buying power to impose unfair terms and conditions on suppliers, particularly affecting small suppliers. The authors use case studies to provide in-depth analysis of four European countries, namely France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The book ends with a discussion of policy issues against a backdrop of likely future trends in concentration in this area.
The fundamental goal of competition law is to support productivity and innovativeness; in fact, the short-term effect of enforcement actions is often a reduction in product prices. This book reports the findings of consumer market studies into a range of goods and services in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It finds a pervasive lack of competition in those markets, which not only reduces the standard of living of consumers, including poor and vulnerable groups, but also softens the incentives on firms to improve the efficiency of their operations and the quality of their products
With crisp and insightful contributions from 47 of the world’s leading experts in various facets of retailing, Retailing in the 21st Century offers in one book a compendium of state-of-the-art, cutting-edge knowledge to guide successful retailing in the new millennium. In our competitive world, retailing is an exciting, complex and critical sector of business in most developed as well as emerging economies. Today, the retailing industry is being buffeted by a number of forces simultaneously, for example the growth of online retailing and the advent of ‘radio frequency identification’ (RFID) technology. Making sense of it all is not easy but of vital importance to retailing practitioners, analysts and policymakers.
An award-winning journalist breaks through the wall of secrecy to reveal how the world's most powerful company really works and how it is transforming the American economy.
