Outsourcing in Place: Should a Retailer Sell Its Store-Brand Factory?

ABSTRACTSeveral major grocery chains in the United States own factories that produce some of their store-brand products. Historically, these store-brand products have been the low-price, lower-quality alternatives to higher-priced national brands, but the quality and consumer acceptance of store brands have increased markedly in recent years. Although demand for store-brand products has grown, managing the associated factories can be costly for retailers, leading some to consider selling the factories to third parties.We study the impact of selling a retailer’s existing capacity-limited factory to a third party when a store-brand product competes with a similar national-brand product. We examine the equilibrium dynamics between two external suppliers and show how the outcome changes with respect to prices, capacity limitations, the distribution of profits, and the sequencing of pricing decisions. Among other things, we show that, surprisingly, the national brand’s equilibrium wholesale price may fall when...