Global Product Design Platforming: A Comparison of Two Methods to Find Equilibrium Solutions

We examine optimal-profit product design platforming problems for products sold across multiple markets. Firms have an incentive to platform to take advantage of cost reductions that are possible with increased production quantity, such as learning-by-doing. However, platforming may decrease sales compared to if the designs were customized for each market. The problem can be represented as a Nash equilibrium between multiple competing firms,...