| 摘要: | 鑑於「網路外部性」及「垂直產品差異化」是許多新興產業所共有的特徵,近年來已 有一些硏究探討同時存在這兩個特性下的產品市場均衡。値得注意的是，除了這兩個 特性外，品質改善成本的有無，以及成本結構的設定也都是影響廠商選擇均衡品質的 關鍵因素,但是現有文獻卻對這些因素所可能造成的影響並無太多著墨。此外,一個良 好的模型能否適切的描述市場均衡的另一主要關鍵是在消費者及廠商的互動關係上, 在序列賽局的分析架構下,參與者間行動順序的改變可能會導致截然不同的均衡結果, 因此，消費者預期產品網路規模時間與廠商作價格決策時間的先後，對市場的競爭結 果有相當程度的影響。本硏究計畫的主要目的就是要建立一個能同時捕捉網路外部性 與垂直產品差異化這兩種特徵的一般化模型，並進一步探討消費者預期形成的時點先 後及不同的品質改善成本結構會如何影響廠商選擇均衡品質與均衡價格，以及對社會 福利之影響等議題。在相關的文獻中，除了沒有硏究特別強調消費者預期形成的時點 與不同的品質改善成本結構在市場均衡中扮演重要的角色外，也沒有類似此硏究計畫 這樣有系統地分析比較這些關鍵因素的影響。因此，此硏究計畫應可使我們更加瞭解 這些新興市場的均衡形成情形。
In recent years, because of “network externalities” and “vertical product differentiation” observed in many newly emerged industries, there has been some literature about the behavior of the duopoly market with vertically differentiated good and network externalities. In a sequential game theoretic model, it is well known that the changes of players’ timing for actions could lead to different equilibria. Therefore, the timing of consumers’ expectation on network size relative to that of firms’ prices setting can be crucial in the formation of equilibrium, which is overlooked by current literature. In this project, I set up a game theoretic model, which captures the network externalities and vertical product differentiation, and call for a rigorous investigation over different timing scenarios. The project then investigates the equilibrium qualities, prices, market shares and social welfare induced by various scenarios. In addition, the presence of quality improvement cost seems to have impact on the equilibrium, which is another purpose for this project to explore. To my best knowledge, in the related literature, this is the first research which not only emphasizes the importance of the timings of consumers’ expectations and the versions of costs of quality improvement in equilibrium, but also analyzes them systematically. Therefore, this project will give us better understanding of the equilibrium of these newly emerged industries. |
