The Phenomenon of Bargaining Power on the Competitive Product Markets

Abstract

The emergence of network retailers and corporate associative structures in some industries, which became the largest buyers or initiators of market processes, began to form the buyer’s market power or bargaining power of the buyer that became the object of a broader study and confirmed its relevance. The realization of bargaining power on the part of the consumer does not always manifest itself in the system of economic interactions as an action that violates competition, but often is identified as a mechanism of business strategies or a form of implementation of marketing competitive practices. There are types of markets and market situations in which bargaining power is essentially the central link of the transaction, regulating prices, volumes, contract terms and distribution of benefits. The purpose of the study is to consider the phenomenon of bargaining power, since the consequences of its manifestations form long-term losses for both the seller and the market as a whole. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve several tasks: to conduct a theoretical analysis of the concept of “bargaining power”, to determine the difference between bargaining power and market power and to identify factors affecting the formation and development of bargaining power. This article focuses on the study of the evolution of theoretical thought in the field of disclosure of the phenomenon of bargaining power. Foreign sources give some understanding of the subject of bargaining power, but the question of factors, research schools and evaluation indicators still remains open. Based on the available bibliographic content, the article presents a comprehensive analysis of the category of “bargaining power” in various conditions of interaction of agents, the established scientific directions of its study. The systematized factors influencing the negotiating power and the vectors of their impact reflect the accumulated author’s opinion of different research views. The article reflects the criteria characteristics of the manifestation of bargaining power in the market. Understanding the essence of the phenomenon under study can be useful for expanding the field of market analysis in cases of antimonopoly proceedings, preventing anticompetitive actions, forming an antimonopoly compliance system and preventing antimonopoly risks.