Managing Cost Reduction Efforts in Supplier Encroachment

The extant literature has indicated that upstream supplier encroachment on the incumbent retailer could be beneficial to the supplier, the retailer, and the entire industry, when the supplier’s marketing disadvantage satisfies specific conditions. This study extends the previous investigations about supplier encroachment to the circumstance where the supplier is capable of managing and mitigating her marketing disadvantage, which further intensifies the retail competition and provides new managerial implications about the encroachment. We find that encroachment with cost reduction efforts does not necessarily hurt the retailer and the industry but always benefit the supplier and consumers. Compared to encroachment without the cost reduction effort, encroachment with cost reduction efforts does not necessarily benefit the supplier and the industry. Between encroachment with and without cost reduction efforts, the retailer and consumers always prefer the latter and the former, respectively. Our findings provide meaningful insights to manage cost reduction efforts in supply chain encroachment.