CPRC
50-E(PDF:339KB) |
"Ex-post Examination of Business Combination:Impacts on Retail Prices"(2011.5)
Koki Arai(JFTC, Head of CPRC Secretariat)
In this paper, we analyzed the impact of business combination on retail prices between manufacturers of consumer goods on the basis of the retail scanner data collected from large-scale retail stores. The analysis was conducted for merger examples in flavor seasonings,sugar, and instant noodles markets in accordance with the ex-post evaluation method of Ashenfelter and Hosken (2008) for horizontal mergers in the U.S. As a result, it is found that, in all markets, the retail prices of each product have been trending higher as a whole after business combination and also the weighted price level of business-combined companies had been raised more than a price level rise in the markets due to business combination. In addition, the prices of primary brands of one of the business-combined companies were raised due to business combination, while the prices of brands of the other company had remained unchanged or lowered.
Keywords: business combination, ex-post examination,household flavor seasoning, instant noodles, sugar
JEL classification codes: G34, K21, L16, L41 |
