The Effect of Cooperatives on Quality-Enhancing Innovation

摘要: This paper develops game-theoretic models of heterogeneous consumers to analyse the effect cooperatives on quality-enhancing product innovation activity, pricing food products and welfare groups involved, in context a mixed duopoly where an open-membership consumer co-op competes with investor-owned firm markets for horizontally differentiated products. Analytical results show that involvement member welfare-maximising activity can change nature differentiation structure market, be quality enhancing by increasing reducing prices The effects co-operative are shown depend degree heterogeneity size costs.