Applied Industrial Organization offers a perspective on the richness of empirical industrial organization studies. Some papers derive empirical implications from theoretical models, but other papers start from empirical evidence and construct a theory. Three major topics are explored: the role of innovation, the evolution of market structure and firms, and the determinations of performance. As the central force of market economies, innovation is the essence of competition and results in changes to market structures. Other forces driving the evolution of markets and firms are also analyzed. Finally, the determinants of profitability are investigated. In particular, characteristics such as price flexibility, successful lenders and monopoly regulation are examined. Contributors include F.M. Scherer, Paul Geroski, John Hey, David Audretsch, Manfred Neumann, among others.

I examine horizontally differentiated firms in three different contexts. First, I look at an industry where firms can develop self-customizable products---products which appeal to different consumers for different reasons. This addition results in an unexpected conclusion that sometimes more differentiated firms can end up with lower profits than less differentiated firms. The result is due to the fact that more differentiated firms engage in a prisoner dilemma type competition, making their products more and more self-customizable, and ending up with higher costs in the end. In the equilibrium consumers derive more welfare than is socially optimal. We, with Martin Lariviere, go on to examine why capacity constrained restaurants offer reservations for consumers. It does not make sense for a monopolist to offer free reservations in a homogenous market, since it leaves the monopolist with empty seats due to some of the consumers not honoring their reservations. We find that even in a heterogeneous market with competition two restaurants with the same total capacity as a monopolist, under some parameters, offer reservations when the monopolist does not. Moreover, whenever the monopolist offers reservations, so do the two firms. In the third chapter we, together with George Deltas and Daniel Spulber, examine two sided market where intermediaries are horizontally differentiated both upstream and downstream. The comparative statics in competition have similar properties to those in the monopoly case in the standard Hotelling model---as firms become more differentiated (downstream), their profits become lower. We use the model for several applications, for example to explain why malls generally have comparatively lower priced apartment buildings around them, even though living close to the mall would be of great benefit for the regular shoppers.

This reader provides a unique mix of American and European contributions to the study of particular markets, often combined with a critical evaluation of antitrust regulations, decisions or judgments. Part I explains market structure as a function of sunk costs and market size. Part II illustrates the central role of pricing schemes (including parallel pricing, delivered pricing and competition clauses) in sustaining equilibrium outcomes in oligopolistic markets. Parts III and IV give a game-theoretic foundation to competition policy and merger control. Louis Phlips offers a comprehensive introduction to the text in which he very carefully explains the reasoning behind his choice of papers, and provides a superb synthesis of the material. Particular highlights include the discussion and evaluation of antitrust regulations, which involve a systematic comparative analysis of European and American regulations, decisions and judgments in this area.

Striking a balance between research, theory, and application, the sixth edition of INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: AN APPLIED APPROACH, International Edition prepares students for their future careers through a combination of scholarship, humor, case studies, and practical applications. Students will see the relevance of industrial/organizational psychology to their everyday lives through such practical applications as how to write a resume, survive an employment interview, write a job description, create a performance appraisal instrument, and motivate employees. Charts and tables simplify such complicated issues as employment law, job satisfaction, work motivation and leadership.