Entry deterrence due to brand proliferation: Empirical evidence from the German interurban bus industry

In 2016, the largest operator in the German interurban bus industry, Flixbus, acquired its major rival, Postbus. We study the effects of that takeover using route-level data covering more than 6,000 routes. We find that Flixbus, on average, provided a lower frequency of bus rides and slightly decrea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:MAGKS - Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics (Band 31-2017)
Main Authors: de Haas, Samuel, Herold, Daniel, Schäfer, Jan Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Philipps-Universität Marburg 2017
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Online Access:PDF Full Text
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Summary:In 2016, the largest operator in the German interurban bus industry, Flixbus, acquired its major rival, Postbus. We study the effects of that takeover using route-level data covering more than 6,000 routes. We find that Flixbus, on average, provided a lower frequency of bus rides and slightly decreased prices after the takeover. This indicates that Flixbus pursued a strategy of preemption: to decrease residual demand for Postbus, Flixbus offered a high number of bus rides. After the takeover, Flixbus decreased the supply of transportation services and lowered the prices to compensate the consumers for the resulting increase in inconvenience costs
Physical Description:56 Pages
ISSN:1867-3678
DOI:10.17192/es2024.0541