Does Sutton apply to supermarkets?
I present empirical evidence that endogenous fixed costs play a central role in determining the equilibrium structure of the supermarket industry. Using the framework developed in Sutton (1991), I construct a model of supermarket competition where escalating investment in firm-level distribution sys...
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Veröffentlicht in: | The Rand journal of economics 2007-03, Vol.38 (1), p.43-59 |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
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Zusammenfassung: | I present empirical evidence that endogenous fixed costs play a central role in determining the equilibrium structure of the supermarket industry. Using the framework developed in Sutton (1991), I construct a model of supermarket competition where escalating investment in firm-level distribution systems is driven by the incentive to produce a greater variety of products in every store. Employing a store-level census and 51 distinct geographic markets, I demonstrate that the supermarket industry is a natural oligopoly in which a small number of firms (between four and six) capture the majority of sales, regardless of market size. |
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ISSN: | 0741-6261 1756-2171 |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1756-2171.2007.tb00043.x |