American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
On the Irrelevance of Input Prices for Make-or-Buy Decisions
American Economic Review
vol. 95,
no. 5, December 2005
(pp. 1631–1638)
Abstract
This paper demonstrates that input prices need not reflect the costs of an efficient incumbent supplier in order to induce entrants to implement efficient make-or-buy decisions. Because of strategic downstream considerations, entrants may always undertake efficient make-or-buy decisions, regardless of the prices at which they are authorized to buy key inputs from incumbent suppliers.Citation
Sappington, David, E M. 2005. "On the Irrelevance of Input Prices for Make-or-Buy Decisions." American Economic Review, 95 (5): 1631–1638. DOI: 10.1257/000282805775014344JEL Classification
- L11 Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
- L14 Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation; Networks