管理科学系学术讲座

时间：2024年3月27日（周三） 10:30-12:00

地点：管理学院思源楼524室

主题：Fairness Regulation of Prices in Competitive Markets

主讲人：Xingyu Fu（付星宇） Assistant Professor

UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia（新南威尔士大学商学院）

主持人：肖诗虹复旦大学管理学院助理教授

摘要：

Problem Definition: The loyalty penalty refers to a pricing strategy where companies charge higher prices to loyal customers for exploitation while offering lower prices to non-loyal customers for attraction. To address this unfair business practice, various regulatory agencies, such as the CMA and FCA in the UK, have proposed or implemented regulations aimed at promoting fairness in pricing. In this study, we analyze the impact of such regulations on both firms and consumers. Methodology and Results: We develop a stylized model to investigate duopoly competition in two symmetric markets, where consumers exhibit loyalty to different firms in each market. The regulatory intervention mandates that the price difference between the two markets, set by each firm, must not exceed a certain threshold. Our analysis reveals an intriguing interaction between market competition and price fairness regulation. When competition is intense, fairness regulation can alleviate cut-throat competition between firms, resulting in Pareto improvements compared to a scenario with no regulation. On the other hand, when competition is weak, fairness regulation can further enhance firms' existing monopoly power, potentially leading to collusive high prices that are detrimental to consumers and society. We also consider several extensions to enrich our findings, including fairness regulation on relative price discounts, asymmetric markets, and a two-pronged policy regulating the price gap and price cap. Managerial and Policy Implications: Our study reveals the economic consequences of price fairness regulations - firms can benefit by pricing fairly, but well-intended fairness requirements may have adverse effects on consumers.

主讲人简介:

Xingyu Fu is joining the School of Marketing at the UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, as an assistant professor. During his PhD study at the Business School (ISOM Department) of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, he is supervised by Prof. Ying-Ju Chen, Prof. Guillermo Gallego, and Prof. Pin Gao. His research interests include socially responsible and sustainable operations, the marketing-operations interface, and the economics of AI and digitization. His research papers have been published or are under revision in leading business journals such as Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Naval Research Logistics, and Service Science.