廣告媒體與消費者資訊結構對製造商均衡價格及廣告策略之影響

Effects of Advertising Media and Consumers' Information Structure on Manufacturers' Equilibrium Pricing and Advertising Strategies

本研究旨在探討消費者資訊結構與廣告媒體特性對既存獨佔製造商與一潛在競爭者執行品牌告知型廣告之誘因的影響，並探討廣告策略如何影響兩製造商後續的訂價行為以及潛在競爭者的進場意願。考慮產品帶給消費者的毛效用夠高的情況下，本文主要研究結果如下：（1）除非既存製造商忠誠顧客人口極多，否則既存製造商透過大眾媒體執行品牌告知型廣告，皆有助於阻絕潛在競爭者的入場；（2）當既存製造商執行品牌告知型廣告無法阻絕潛在競爭者入場，且兩廠商間忠誠顧客比例相距不是太大時，如果廣告所用大眾媒體的接觸率越高，既存製造商執行廣告擴大產品知曉度將同時激化兩廠商間的價格競爭；（3）在上述情況下既存製造商可能放棄執行告知型廣告；（4）當既存製造商可以使用高效率的目標廣告媒體時，既存製造商執行告知型廣告可使兩廠商共同受惠。

This paper intends to investigate how consumers' information structure and the nature of advertising media may affect an existing manufacturer and a potential entrant's incentives to perform informative advertising, and how these advertising decisions may affect these manufacturers' subsequent pricing behavior and thus the potential entrant's entry decision. With the assumption that consumer gross valuations are high, we obtained the following results. Firstly, except in the case where the incumbent manufacturer is endowed with a very large loyal base, the incumbent's informative advertising through mass media helps deter entry. Secondly, in a case where informative advertising fails to deter entry and that neither firm has a dominant loyal base, then the post-entry price competition crucially depends on the nature of the advertising medium used by the two firms. If they use a similar mass medium with high reach rate, then the informative advertising performed by the incumbent will intensify their price competition. Thirdly, when both firms use similar mass media to perform informative advertising, it is unlikely that the incumbent manufacturer conducts informative advertising in equilibrium. Finally, when the incumbent can use an efficient targeted medium, the incumbent’s informative advertising tends to benefit both manufacturers.