Changes in Intra-brand Market Concentration in the Retail Automotive Industry: A Critique of the Prevailing Manufacturer Model of Intra-brand Establishment And a Direct Spatial-Based Model for Impact Assessment
This thesis evaluates changes in the concentration of intra-brand competition within the retail automotive industry. This is accomplished through a review of the nature and history of automotive franchising and its relevant industrial organization problems and through a case study analysis of an intra-brand dealership relocation. A significant backdrop to this topic is the legal arena in which regulating courts decide the fates of attempts to add, relocate, and terminate automotive franchises. Specifically, this thesis critiques and tests the prevailing empirical model advanced by manufacturers to support the need for increased retail representation.
Empirical work in this thesis expands previous literature in several ways. A before-and-after statistical analysis directly tests the assumptions of the aforementioned manufacturer model, and examines the role of proximity in intra-brand and inter-brand competition. Finally, this thesis proposes an alternate model for evaluating the effect of an encroachment by an intra-brand competitor.
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