Competitor analysis

Business

Cournot competition

Mathematics

Biology

Image (mathematics)

Similarity (geometry)

Marketing

Artificial intelligence

Economics

Microeconomics

Set (abstract data type)

Ecology

Programming language

Geometry

Computer science

Product (mathematics)

Product differentiation

Industrial organization

Competition (biology)

Journal of Political Economy

We study how firms differ from their competitors using new time-varying measures of product similarity based on text-based analysis of firm 10-K product descriptions. This year-by-year set of product similarity measures allows us to generate a new set of industries in which firms can have their own distinct set of competitors. Our new sets of competitors explain specific discussion of high competition, rivals identified by managers as peer firms, and changes to industry competitors following exogenous industry shocks. We also find evidence that firm R&D and advertising are associated with subsequent differentiation from competitors, consistent with theories of endogenous product differentiation.

Text-Based Network Industries and Endogenous Product Differentiation