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The goal of this chapter is to analyse the decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency in the field of grocery retail mergers in the 2004–2009 period. In particular, various criteria used by the Competition Agency to evaluate grocery retail mergers are identified and discussed.

Using the comparative approach the author attempts to detect the relevant sources for certain solutions embraced by the Competition Agency by examining especially the relevant practice of the European Commission as well as relevant decisions adopted by some competition authorities in EU member states.

The grocery retail market in Croatia has seen a flurry of mergers since 2004 with the largest competitor spreading to various local markets. For the Croatian competition authority this merger wave has perhaps been the biggest challenge since its inception. In the face of growing market concentration, the authority saw fit to shift from initially providing green light to duly notified transactions to subsequently addressing serious competition concerns by ordering a number of remedies. The Croatian competition authority relied extensively on EU acquis when deciding on specific merger cases, especially as regards the relevant market definition.

The value of the chapter is reflected in the fact that this kind of comparative analysis of Croatian merger cases in the field of grocery retail mergers was not available before. It is especially in the light of the accession of Croatia to the EU, as foreseen on 1 July 2013, that this kind of study becomes useful both for domestic but also EU audience.

The competitiveness of companies and their capacity to join markets have changed as a result of the digital economy. One of the reasons the European Commission will revise the rules governing block exemptions for R&D agreements and begin consulting stakeholders in March 2022 is the impact of digitalisation on markets. This chapter looks into how digitalisation has impacted the competitive analysis and evaluation that Moldovan businesses and the competition authority must conduct when looking at R&D collaborations.

For the purposes of the research in this chapter, we used methods such as analysis, deduction, induction, and synthesis of conceptual approaches to the digitalization of the competitive assessment, to elucidate the factors influencing competitiveness in R&D agreements. We also assessed the situation in the Republic of Moldova to formulate conclusions and own opinions about how the introduction of new processes and products on the market will stimulate competition among national firms and will strengthen their ability to compete in regional or even international markets. The recommendations and proposals for improving the management of competence to encourage businesses to innovate collaborate and exchange knowledge to produce innovative goods and services, including green economy solutions and initiatives with the security to comply with a competition policy adapted to the requirements of the new economy, as well as to the new changes in the European competition policy.

Vertical trading relations between retailers and their suppliers are an important determinant of competition, strategy and performance in a number of sectors in the economy, and thus strongly influence consumer welfare. The balance of vertical power between retailers and manufacturers has changed over the past 20 or 30 years to confer more influence on retailers, and this has had a number of obvious outcomes in terms of retailer influence on product design and advertising, including own‐label goods. Other changes, such as increasingly beneficial terms of trade for large‐scale retailers in some sectors and the deterioration in manufacturer profitability, have led to government enquiry into particular sectors, and demands from some parties for a legislative response to perceived problems. The article suggests that while there is room for improvement in UK retailing performance, the outcomes for consumer welfare of changes in the vertical balance of power in markets are more difficult to assess.

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to review the literature in order to assess the opportunities and the possible welfare effects of differentiation strategies in the food market; and second, to analyse the current structure and organisation of the fresh produce market (fruit, vegetable, and salad) in the light of new product procurement, innovation, and differentiation policies carried out by retailers at the global level.

The paper used a single dyadic case study across two countries (Italy and the UK): the primary producer is engaged in “partner” supply to a principal category management intermediary for channel leading multiple retailers.

First, equilibrium in differentiated markets is not stable, and a welfare assessment is difficult. Second, a differentiation strategy in the market for fresh produce might benefit retailers more than in other sectors, which seem to be consistent with the theoretical findings. Third, when retailers engage in product differentiation it is more likely that channel relationships shift from collaborative to competitive types, with the power imbalance becoming the disciplinary means by which vertical coordination is achieved and maintained.

This article was based on a single case study.

For suppliers it could be wise to agree to some inequity as the cost of doing business, especially when smart large retailers carry out successfully competitive strategies with positive spill‐over effects on the upstream firms.

Using the industrial economic literature on the effects of differentiation strategies (horizontal and vertical differentiation) on market structure, firms' performance, and welfare effects, this paper analyses case findings from a study in the fresh produce industry and will be of interest to those within the field.

Focuses on the changing nature of retail competition and the way it affects local consumer choice in the UK grocery sector. Integrates relevant literature on the economic aspects of competition with work on the changing corporate geographies of retailers. Links vertical market power (relative to suppliers) and multiple retailers’ ability to compete horizontally (relative to other retailers) in a given trading locality, and argues that this interaction has fundamentally altered the nature of competition. The increase in retail power that has resulted has served to redefine local consumer choice. Smaller retailers are disadvantaged by this shift because it has directly affected the store and product choices of consumer groups depending on their relative mobility. Argues for empirical work to ground and validate these assertions.

Enterprise software is a predominant sector in the European software industry. Four of the five largest European software companies are found in this sector. Interestingly, two of these — among them SAP as one of the two global market leaders — are located within the same industrial agglomeration in South-Western Germany. This agglomeration, the SAP cluster, further consists of enterprise software SMEs forming a ‘satellite system’ centred around the large players, which fosters the formation of ‘mutualistic symbiotic’ relationships between large and small firms. At first sight, cluster formation in the context of the enterprise software industry might seem perplexing considering that traditional rationales of agglomeration economies seem obsolete in an environment where advances in communications technology would permit companies to locate in any location within a modern developed economy instead of concentrating in proximity to each other or to major players in the industry. This chapter explores possible explanations of this agglomeration phenomenon based on patterns of competition, collaboration and the formation of social capital between smaller firms and large anchor firms.

The findings of a comparative analysis between the SAP cluster environment and two categories of controls (firms in other agglomerated environments and those unaffected by agglomeration effects within Germany) show that SAP cluster SMEs might simultaneously benefit from heightened intensity of competition and a more pronounced inclination towards collaboration. Moreover, the role of social capital derived from SAP as anchor firm clearly differentiates SAP cluster participants from firms located within other environments.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of wholesale price discrimination by a manufacturer in a retailer–e-tailer dual-channel supply chain for different product categories based on their online channel preference.

This paper considers a dual-channel supply chain comprising of a retailer and an e-tailer engaged in competition. Game-theoretic models are developed to model the competition between the retailer and e-tailer and to derive their optimal price, optimal order quantity and optimal profit under (1) equal wholesale price strategy and (2) discriminatory wholesale price strategy. Further, a numerical example was employed to quantify the results and to capture the variation with respect to online channel preference of the product.

It is beneficial for the manufacturer to adopt a discriminatory wholesale price strategy for products having both high online channel preference and low online channel preference. However, equal wholesale price strategy is beneficial for the e-tailer and the retailer in the case of products having high online channel preference and in the case of products having low online channel preference, respectively.

The study helps the manufacturers to maximize their profit by adopting the right wholesale price strategy considering the online channel preference of the product when the manufacturers are supplying to heterogeneous retailers.

There is scant literature on the wholesale price strategy of the manufacturer considering the heterogeneous downstream retailers. This paper contributes the literature by bridging this gap. In addition, the study establishes a link between the wholesale price strategy and online channel preference of the product.

This paper aims to present a broader industry-level competitive analysis of a contact lens market.

Porter’s Five Forces model can be used for a broader and rigorous competitive analysis of a contact lens market to determine the competitive intensity and to form a well-rounded business strategy.

The contact lens market is highly competitive and unattractive. Because growth has been stagnant, traditional competition has become more intense to steal share from each other. However, the competition in the market could not be defined narrowly between traditional competition but is broad with substitutes, and bargaining power of customers and distributors. A contact lens manufacturer has to look beyond the traditional competition to not only compete with traditional competitors within the industry but also with substitutes, and bargaining power of customers and distributors.

This paper will benefit contact lens manufacturers/businesses in forming a well-rounded business strategy.

The aim of this work is to study numerically and analytically flow and heat transfer characteristics and multiplicity of steady states for natural convection in a horizontal rectangular cavity, filled with non‐Newtonian power‐law fluids and heated from all sides.

The governing equations are discretised by using the well known second‐order central finite difference method and integrated by combining the ADI and PSOR techniques. The analytical approach is based on the parallel flow assumption.

Natural and anti‐natural flows existence is proved when the Rayleigh number exceeds a critical value and the side lateral heating intensity values is chosen inside a specific range. The analytical results are found to agree well with those obtained numerically. The fluid flow and the heat transfer are found to be rather sensitive to the non‐Newtonian power‐law behaviour.

The obtained results are limited to non‐Newtonian power‐law fluids and cannot be extended to fluids having other behaviours.

The problem is implied in some industrial thermal processes.

Existence of multiple steady state‐solutions in the range of the side lateral heating intensity values ensuring, that is reduced by the shear‐thickening behaviour and extended by the shear‐thinning one for a given value of Rayleigh number.

Today’s dynamic markets are forcing firms to design increasingly complex channel strategies involving multiple channels of distribution. As the complexity of these systems increases, so too does the opportunity for conflict between individual channel coalitions within the firm. Whereas this hybrid channel conflict can reduce channel performance, it can also serve as a mechanism forcing internal channel coalitions to work harder and smarter to serve their markets. In this paper, we develop and test six hypotheses related to hybrid channel conflict. The findings indicate that hybrid channel conflict is an important determinant of both channel performance and satisfaction. The results suggest further that the relationship between hybrid channel conflict and channel performance is moderated by the lifecycle stage. Moreover, our data support the view that the frequency of conflict, but not its intensity, has a negative effect on channel system performance. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of this study.