The strategic effects of batch processing.

We study a duopoly game in which firms commit to a batch technology before competing in sales quantities. Adopting a batch technology requires the quantity produced to equal an integer number of batches and allows sales to be less than production. When larger batch sizes lower unit production cost...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Economic Review Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 697 - 729
Main Authors: Gresik, Thomas A., Mansley, Edward C.
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell August 2001
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:We study a duopoly game in which firms commit to a batch technology before competing in sales quantities. Adopting a batch technology requires the quantity produced to equal an integer number of batches and allows sales to be less than production. When larger batch sizes lower unit production costs (as in the U.S. airline industry with its economies of density), subgame perfect equilibrium sales quantities are unique and more competitive than the Cournot equilibrium quantities of a one-shot game with continuous total cost functions. When larger batch sizes yield higher unit costs, equilibrium production can exceed equilibrium sales. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.