How to compete against a behavioral newsvendor

Abstract

We investigate newsvendor ordering behavior under competition. We present a laboratory experiment that documents the behavioral ordering regularities in competitive newsvendor environments, and an analytical model extending the standard theory of newsvendor competition by including an optimal best-response policy for competing with a behaviorally biased newsvendor. We test the effectiveness of this policy using an out-of-sample experiment and find that it results in improved market share, service level and profitability