Retailer information sharing under manufacturer encroachment and production cost reduction

Abstract This study investigates retailer's sharing decisions concerning ex ante information about demand when the encroaching manufacturer can reduce production cost. Equilibrium information sharing decisions with encroachment are quite different from that with no encroachment. The encroaching manufacturer's cost reduction efficiency is key to determine equilibrium results, and these thresholds regarding cost reduction efficiency depend on competition intensity between the encroaching manufacturer's direct channel and retailer channel. Furthermore, through investigating the encroachment decisions of the manufacturer, we prove that the equilibrium information sharing decisions under encroachment is robust in general.