Product positioning with overlapping ownership

This paper investigates the duopoly firms’ positioning strategies when they have overlapping ownership. We find that the firms position themselves further away from each other to soften competition as the degree of overlapping ownership increases. This increases firm profits but reduces consumer and total welfare. The anticompetitive effect of overlapping ownership is exacerbated with the additional choice of product positioning. •We analyze the duopoly firms’ positioning strategies when they have overlapping ownership.•The firms position themselves further apart as the degree of overlapping ownership increases.•The anticompetitive effect of overlapping ownership is exacerbated with positioning choices.