Merging with a buyer group member

Abstract

We examine a merger between a national retailer and a local retailer who is a member of a buyer group. While the traditional literature on mergers assumes an oligopolistic industry (where the merger takes place) supplied by a perfectly competitive one, we assume here that retailers obtain their input from a supplier that can offer quantity discounts. In this setting, a merger can be profitable for insiders (solving the merger paradox) and can also be more profitable for insiders than for outsiders (solving the free-riding problem). This result holds even if the merged firm ends-up with a small share of the market. However, welfare decreases post-merger. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.