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MANAGING PRODUCT VARIETY
IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
by
Nan Xia
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION)
August 2008
Copyright 2008 Nan Xia
Object Description
| Title | Managing product variety in a competitive environment |
| Author | Xia, Nan |
| Author email | nan.xia.2008@marshall.usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Business Administration |
| School | Marshall School of Business |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-05-01 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 26 June 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-06-26 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Bassok, Yehuda Rajagopalan, Sampath |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Tan, Guofu Sosic, Greys Dasu, Sriram |
| Abstract | Product proliferation has been observed in many product categories over the years. It is commonly believed that increasing variety would potentially attract more customers and hence yield more profit. However, there are variety-associated costs as well, and whether firms in a competitive environment would benefit from increasing product variety is unclear. Therefore, this dissertation studies how to balance the costs and benefits of product variety in presence of competition. More specifically, the following research questions are explored: In presence of competition, how should a firm choose the product strategies that involve production technology (mass production or mass customization), product selection or assortment planning, pricing, and inventory decisions in order to maximize its overall profits? How do these decisions interact with each other, and what is the effect of market characteristics and cost factors on these variety-related decisions?; We analyze competitive variety management problems along different dimensions: in the first essay, we study the competitive production technology strategies faced by manufacturers and the trade-offs between standard products and customized products, along with variety, lead time and pricing decisions; in the second essay we examine the assortment planning and inventory decisions faced by retailers, in consideration of the competitor's choices; the third essay studies the interaction between variety and pricing strategies in presence of competition and the effect of firm reputation on these decisions, which may apply to both manufacturers and retailers.; This dissertation makes the following contributions: 1. It proposes a modeling framework to analyze the product variety management problems in a competitive setting. In contrast to the models in literature, it incorporates customers' heterogeneous preferences for firm and for product attribute, and it models customer behaviors in response to firms' production technology, product assortment and pricing strategies. Therefore, we are able to analyze how these decisions should be made in order to maximize a firm's profit in competition. 2. We demonstrate the strategic interactions among decisions including production technology, product assortment, pricing and stocking quantities in presence of competition, and identify the effect of market characteristics and cost factors on those decisions. The modeling framework proposed and the insights obtained contribute to the literature on product variety management. |
| Keyword | game theory model; pricing; assortment planning; customization; competition; product variety |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1296 |
| Rights | Xia, Nan |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Xia-20080626 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume17/etd-Xia-20080626.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | MANAGING PRODUCT VARIETY IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT by Nan Xia A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION) August 2008 Copyright 2008 Nan Xia |
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