Price competition frequently degenerates into its most devastating form: a price war. As the general consensus is that price wars substantially damage the firms involved a new approach is necessary to put an end to these conflicts.
Michael Bungert investigates the possibility to terminate (non-beneficial) price wars through appropriate signals. In an experiment, he analyzes the effect of different types of signals such as switch-blocking intent, reciprocity, co-operation, weakness, and hostility on the price reaction behaviour of a competitor. The author shows the consequences of marketing moves such as individual refunding guarantees, coupons, image advertising, price-matching guarantees, verbal statements and unilateral price increase for the generation of the mentioned signals. He demonstrates that all signal types show a considerable effect on the probability of a co-operative price reaction.
