Essays in empirical industrial organization

This dissertation consists of three self-contained chapters. The underlying themes are the analysis of firms' strategic behavior under a dynamic framework, when facing changes in the competitive environment due to certain firm's behavior, economic shocks, or policy regulations in the market. The first two chapters investigate how technology sharing promotes the development of a newly emerging market -- plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle industry in the US. In chapter one, I explore the effects of open source initiative on car manufacturers' entry decisions and quality positionings. Chapter two explains why it is profitable for firms to share their technologies and how the whole industry benefits from it. The third chapter is co-authored with Michelle Sovinsky, where we analyze whether advertising can be used as a pre-emptive tool