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Behavioral Ordering, Competition and Profits: An Experimental Investigation
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Behavioral Ordering, Competition and Profits: An Experimental Investigation

Bernardo F. Quiroga, Brent Moritz and Anton Ovchinnikov
Production and operations management, Vol.28(9), pp.2242-2258
09/2019
DOI: 10.1111/poms.13032

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Abstract

We investigate the impact of behavioral ordering on profits under competition. Specifically, we use controlled laboratory experiments to evaluate the differences in profits between a behavioral competitor (where a human places orders), and a management science-driven competitor (where orders are placed according to one of several plausible policies based on existing literature and managerial practice). Unlike the full-information game-theoretic models that assume rational decision-makers, these policies mimic practical situations by using less information and do not assume that their human competitors make fully rational decisions. Most prior literature focuses on non-competitive settings, where behaviorally biased deviations from optimal order quantities result in small expected profit losses. In contrast, under competition, we find that human decision-makers receive a substantially lower profit than the equilibrium expected profit, even as their competitors receive substantially higher profit.
Engineering Engineering, Manufacturing Operations Research & Management Science Science & Technology Technology

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