Product differentiation and firm size distribution: an application to carbonated soft drinks

Patrick Walsh () and Ciara Whelan

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Using brand-level retail data, the firm size distribution in carbonated soft drinks is shown to be an outcome of the degree to which firms have placed brands effectively (store coverage) across vertical (flavour, packaging, diet attributes) segments of the market. Regularity of the firm size distribution is not disturbed by the nature of short-run brand competition (turbulence in brand market share) within segments. Remarkably, product differentiation resulting from firms acquiring various portfolios of product attributes and stores in market evolution determines the limiting firm size distribution.

Keywords: Firm size distribution; product differentiation; carbonated soft drinks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L11 L66 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2002-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6745/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Product Differentiation and Firm Size Distribution: An Application to Carbonated Soft Drinks (2002)
Working Paper: Product differentiation and firm size distribution: an application to carbonated soft drinks (2002)
Working Paper: Product differentiation and firm size distribution: an application to carbonated soft drinks (2001)
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