78361 - COMPETITION IN TOURISM MARKETS

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to economic tools for understanding competition in tourist markets, both from a theoretical and an empirical point of view. At the of the course, students will be able to i) make sense of tourist firms' choices concerning pricing, product characteristics, innovation and advertising, with a particular attention to the international dimension of competition; ii) evaluate the social consequences of these choices, and judge public policies aimed at improving the market outcomes.

Contenuti

First module (Prof. Elias Carroni)

• Static imperfect competition (price and quantity competition; strategic substitutes and complements)
• Dynamic aspects of imperfect competition (sequential choices and Stackelberg competition; free entry; industry concentration and firm turnover)
• Product differentiation and advertising (horizontal vs. vertical differentiation; persuasive vs. informative advertising; effects of advertising on competition)
• Collusion and competition policy (cartel formation and tacit collusion, sustainability of tacit collusion, antitrust policy; taxonomy of entry-related strategies, strategies affecting cost variables , strategies affecting demand variables)

Material:

(1) Primary: Slides

(2) Suggested Book Chapters:

• Market power [Part II]
• Product differentiation [Chapters 5 and 6 in Part III]
• Cartels and tacit collusion [Chapter 14 in Part VI]
• Strategic incumbents and entry [Chapter 16 in Part VI]

Second Module (Prof. Stefano Bolatto)

• Pricing strategies and market segmentation (group vs. personalized pricing, menu pricing, intertemporal price discrimination with and without commitment on future prices, pure and mixed bundling)
• Product quality and information (asymmetric information, experience goods; warranties and return policies; branding and umbrella branding)
• Market intermediation (dealers, match-makers and two-sided platforms; information and reputation issues)

 

Materials:

(1) Primary: Slides

(2) Suggested Book Chapters:

• Pricing strategies and market segmentation [Part IV]
• Product quality and information [Part V]
• Market intermediation [Part IX]

Testi/Bibliografia

Mandatory: Slides and other teaching materials made available on a weekly basis.

Main textbook: Belleflamme, Paul, and Martin Peitz, “Industrial organization: markets and strategies”, Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Metodi didattici

Lectures, teamworks.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Two written midterms or, alternatively, one final written exam over the entire program. All exams will be taken online.

Midterms will consists of both multiple choice and open-ended questions, worth a max of 20/30 of the final grade for each midterm. Final evaluation of each student will correspond to the average of the mark obtained in the two midterms.

Students will be also asked to perform teamworks, in form of short essays on selected topics to setup starting from academic articles on tourism economics, published in peer-reviewed journals. The evaluation of such essays will contribute to the final grade appointed to each student by 10/30.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Materials will be uploaded on the course page on the Moodle platform (www.virtuale.unibo.it )

Classes will be given in a hybrid form, so students not attending in person will have the chance to attend on-line, on Teams.

Office hours: by appointment for both Prof. Elias Carroni (fist module) and Prof. Stefano Bolatto (second module)

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Elias Carroni

Consulta il sito web di Stefano Antonio Bolatto