Instability in the Hotelling’s Non-Price Spatial Competition Model

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DOI: 10.4236/tel.2013.33A002    5,641 Downloads   12,000 Views  Citations
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ABSTRACT

This note analyzes a slightly modified Hotelling model in which two firms are allowed to choose multiple store locations. Each firm can endogenously choose the number of stores while opening a store incurs a set-up cost. We show that the principle of minimum differentiation, i.e., both firms open a store each on the center, never holds when the set-up cost is decreasing in the number of stores. Under general cost functions that include non-linear and asymmetric set up costs, we characterize the conditions under which the principle holds. General payoff functions that are non-linear in the market share are also considered.

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Yasuda, Y. (2013) Instability in the Hotelling’s Non-Price Spatial Competition Model. Theoretical Economics Letters, 3, 7-10. doi: 10.4236/tel.2013.33A002.

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