Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/ Eindhoven University...arrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
Ciência-UCP
Research . 2024
License: unspecified
Data sources: Ciência-UCP
SSRN Electronic Journal
Article . 2024 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
versions View all 3 versions
addClaim

Mergers of Consumer Cooperatives

Authors: Khorasani, Sina; Korpeoglu, Gizem;

Mergers of Consumer Cooperatives

Abstract

Problem definition: Consumer cooperatives are consumer-owned and managed enterprises that aim to achieve buyer power and maximize their members' welfare. Recently, several cooperatives in major economies, such as the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy, have merged to increase their buyer power and achieve better prices for their members. We seek to understand how these mergers affect strategic interactions among supply chain players, market outcomes, and consumer welfare. Methodology/results: We build a game-theoretic model of a two-tier supply chain where multiple consumer cooperatives procure a product from a market on behalf of their member consumers. Multiple suppliers produce for this market and can increase their supply by incurring a scale-up cost. We show that mergers of cooperatives reduce the market price, as intended. This enables consumers to allocate more of their income to purchasing other goods. However, the lower price also induces suppliers to reduce their production quantities, thereby causing each consumer to receive less of the supplied product. We find that this underproduction is even more pronounced in industries with low production scale-up costs. Due to this tradeoff between lower prices and underproduction, mergers of cooperatives make a nuanced impact on consumer welfare. We show, interestingly, that mergers harm both member and non-member consumers when the pre-merger number of cooperatives or the production scale-up cost is below a certain threshold. Otherwise, mergers benefit all consumers. We expand our results by considering horizontal and vertical differentiation among cooperatives and show that our main results are robust and that more differentiation increases the benefit of mergers. Managerial implications: Mergers of cooperatives make a nuanced impact on consumer welfare due to their effects on prices and production incentives. Policymakers should maintain healthy competition among cooperatives to maximize consumer benefits, especially in markets with low production scale-up costs.

Countries
Portugal, Netherlands
Keywords

Market game, Cooperatives, Supply chain management, Non-profit management, Game theory

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    0
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average