Abuse of Market Dominance Under China’s 2007 Anti-monopoly Law: A Preliminary Assessment

In this article we introduce the abuse of dominance provisions in China??s Anti-monopoly Law (AML) that was enacted in 2007, and we put this in context by briefly describing the laws on the abuse of dominance that existed before the AML, and their relationship with the provisions in the AML. We then discuss the interpretation and enforcement of the AML??s abuse of dominance provisions, on the one hand generally in the context of China??s new market competition environment and its political-legal system, and on the other hand specifically through a consideration of some recent antitrust cases on the abuse of market dominance. Finally, we offer a preliminary appraisal of the law and its enforcement.     

The context of dominance: an industry‐driven framework for exploiting reputation

In spite of the growing interest in sustainable advantages, there has been little effort by strategy researchers to investigate market dominance. In this paper, the extent of dominance by leading firms is linked to the ability to develop and exploit their reputation as a key resource. Results from a wide spectrum of consumer product markets indicate that the advantages that stem from reputation are typically tied to specific industry characteristics. In particular, dominance is more likely to be observed in industries that offer consumer products that are purchased frequently and have lower prices. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward a general theory of competitive dominance: comments and extensions on Powell (2003)

In a recent paper, Powell ( 2003 ) studied 20‐year performance in 21 industries, using an ordinal performance measure (‘wins’), and the Gini coefficient as a measure of competitive dominance. The findings suggest that firm performance is statistically indistinguishable from performance in non‐business domains such as politics, games, sports, and pageants. This paper extends these findings, developing the statistical foundations for a general theory of competitive dominance. The paper presents a Gibrat‐based null hypothesis, develops a decomposable index of competitive dominance, and suggests statistical procedures and empirical methods for future research. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Battle on the Wrong Field? Entrant Type,Dominant Designs,and Technology Exit

Research summary : Startups often compete with diversifying entrants in the technology race to define dominant designs, which can be platform technology‐based or non‐platform technology‐based. However, little research has examined the relative risk of technological exits for startups vs. diversifying entrants in such “dominance battles.” We develop a contingency framework that links a firm's technology exit to its pre‐entry experience and the characteristics of the dominance battle. With a sample of 134 technologies involved in 31 dominance battles in the information technology industry from 1979 to 2007, we show that technologies of startups were more likely than those of diversifying entrants to exit from platform technology‐based dominance battles; however, this relationship did not exist in non‐platform technology‐based dominance battles, or after the emergence of dominant designs. Managerial summary : How can a startup that tries to create a dominant design strategize to survive the fierce technology race? This study demonstrates that choosing the right battlefield is of paramount importance. Two aspects of a battlefield are shown as relevant: the type of technology and the stage of industrial evolution. Our results show that technologies sponsored by startups tend to have higher exit rates than those sponsored by diversifying entrants in dominance battles characterized by platform technologies, but this penalty is not evident in dominance battles characterized by non‐platform technologies or after the emergence of dominant designs. Furthermore, our study suggests that lack of organizational legitimacy, complementary assets, and integrative capabilities may explain why startups have a higher risk of technology exit than diversifying entrants. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The extent of single firm dominance in U.S. manufacturing industries

This paper presents upper and lower bound estimates of leading firm market shares in U.S. manufacturing industries, and of the ratio of leading firm shares to the combined shares of the next three largest firms. These estimates suggest that extreme dominance is not a common feature of the U.S. industrial landscape, although unequal share distribution among leading firms is common. Dominance appears to be an important cause of differences among industries in four-firm concentration ratios. Finally, single firm dominance might account for as much as 16% of observed concentration levels.     

Defining Market Dominance: A Study of Antitrust Decisions on Business Acquisitions in New Zealand

Information from the 207 decisions of the New ZealandCommerce Commission on business acquisitions for1991–96 are used to test how the Commission assessedmarket dominance. Dominance is found to emerge whereboth the market share of the merged entity and theentry barriers were high. A probit regression modelsuggests that there was a 50% probability thatdominance would be found when market share was 75%,in a market where the entry barrier was high. Theapplication of the US merger guidelines to a sub-setof markets finds that the dominance threshold ofanti-competitiveness applied to New Zealand mergerswas very much more lenient than the substantiallessening of competition threshold used in the U.S.     

Who's pulling the strings? The influence of network structure on standard dominance

Innovative systems and infrastructures require generally accepted common compatibility standards to enable components of such systems to interoperate. In some cases, various standards are developed by competing standards organizations, often resulting in standards battles. This paper focuses on factors that affect the outcome of these standards battles, and, specifically, on the effect of the structure of the industry-wide standards networks on standard dominance. The empirical context is the consumer electronics, telecommunications, and ICT arenas. We conduct a study of 103 standards organizations from 2000 to 2011. We find support for the hypothesis that standards that are supported by standards organizations that have a central position in the industry-wide standards network have a high chance of achieving dominance.     

Abuse of Market Dominance Under China’s Anti-Monopoly Law: The Case of Tetra Pak

Review of Industrial Organization - In this paper, we analyze a recent antitrust case of abuse of dominance that was decided by a Chinese administrative enforcement agency under China’s...     

The influence of secondary production on industry definition in the extended vertical market model

Secondary production is defined and its role in the estimation of an extended vertical market model b examined. Two impacts on the subject industry are identified, called primary product dominance and primary product focus. A simultaneous equations model consisting of a profit equation and two secondary production equations is estimated using data from the interindustry transactions accounts. The profit equation captures the impact on industry profit of secondary production and of extended market structure. The dominance equation captures the relationship between secondary production and industry profit and scale of production. The focus equation captures the relationship between secondary production and industry profit and excess capacity. The model is estimated for all industries, and the common specification is then applied to industries grouped by type.     

Managerial and Engineering Economics,by Arnold Reisman

In his recent paper (“Interest Rate Independent Present Value Ranking,” The Engineering Economist, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1989), W. H. Jean discusses the concept of the “time dominance,” developed for the interest rate independent ranking of mutually exclusive projects. He derives a set of conditions identifying the time dominance for the continuous model of time and value representation, and applies these conditions to cash flow series defined in terms of the discrete model. In the current contribution, the genuine time dominance conditions for the discrete model of time and value representation are derived, and it is shown that they are not only much more simple to handle than those presented by Jean, but are also a part of an already existing approach published earlier in this journal. Since Jean's conditions are valid only for the positive values of the interest rate, complementary conditions applicable for the negative interest rates, for both the discrete and continuous models, are also derived.     

The Assessment of Exclusive Contracts: The Competition Case Against Computicket in South Africa

Review of Industrial Organization - This article reviews an abuse of dominance decision against the main outsourced ticketing firm in South Africa. The decision of the Competition Tribunal in...     

Market Power and Joint Dominance in U.K. Brewing

Market power and joint dominance are examined in U.K. brewing. I assess unilateral and coordinated effects, where the latter is equated with joint dominance, and show how one can distinguish between the two econometrically. The application makes use of two demand equations: the nested logit of McFadden [1978a] and the distance-metric of Pinkse, Slade, and Brett [2002] . The two equations yield very different predictions concerning elasticities and markups. Nevertheless, although there is evidence of market power using either demand model, that power is due entirely to unilateral effects. In other words, neither model uncovers evidence of coordinated effects (tacit collusion).     

25 years of European merger control

We study the determinants of common European merger policy over its first 25 years, from 1990 to 2014. Using a novel dataset at the level of the relevant antitrust markets and containing all relevant merger cases notified to the European Commission, we evaluate how consistently arguments related to structural market parameters – dominance, rising concentration, barriers to entry, and foreclosure – were applied over time and across different geographic market definitions. On average, linear probability models overestimate the effects of structural indicators. Using non-parametric machine learning techniques, we find that dominance is positively correlated with competitive concerns, especially in markets with a substantial increase in post-merger concentration and in complex mergers. Yet, its importance decreased following the 2004 merger policy reform. Competitive concerns are also correlated with rising concentration, especially if entry barriers and foreclosure are of concern. The impact of these structural indicators in explaining competitive concerns is independent of the geographic market definition and does not change over time.     

Bidder asymmetries in procurement auctions: Efficiency vs. information – Evidence from railway passenger services

We estimate a structural model of procurement auctions with private and common value components and asymmetric bidders using detailed contract-level data on the German market for railway passenger services. Exploiting exogenous variation in the procurement design, we disentangle the asymmetries in private costs from asymmetries in information about the common value. While each asymmetry can rationalize a firm’s dominance, understanding its source is crucial for evaluating the auction design as welfare and revenue implications depend on the source of dominance. Our results indicate that the incumbent is slightly more cost-efficient and has substantially more precise information about the common value component. If the bidders’ strategic response to the common value asymmetry were eliminated, the average probability of selecting the efficient firm would increase by 43%-points.     

战略采购的过程模型及其作用模式

基于交易成本／交易效益双边动态理论，本文发展了战略采购的过程模型，提出战略采购是一个由市场替代企业、优化网络节点、固化网络联结和整合网络能力四个环节构成的过程．目的是推动企业和市场向网络变迁以获得交易成本的持续降低和交易收益的持续创造。文中还指出了不同条件下的战略采购作用机理。在买方优势条件下．采购战略贡献高的能力可以通过发展单联网络来实现．而采购战略贡献低的能力可以通过发展并联网络来实现；在供方优势条件下，采购战略贡献高的能力可以通过发展外拓网络来实现．而采购战略贡献低的能力可以通过发展外联网络来实现。最后，根据我国战略采购实践和理论现状提出提高我国战略采购水平的对策和进一步理论研究的建议。     

Steps to becoming a fashion consumer in Singapore

The longitudinal transformation of an individual into an avid consumer may be conceived as a career. Through observations in up-market fashion boutiques, it can be shown that the career begins with an individual taking an interest in the merchandise, i.e. becoming a brouser, progresses through being a customer to become an established client. All these stages are manifest and observable in the changing patterns of interaction between the individual and the sales person. In the case of up-market goods, status dominance in the interaction lies initially with the sales person because a brouser is very self-conscious of the pressure to make a purchase, lest one be cast as one who cannot afford the goods. Once a purchase is made, dominance switches immediately, and the interactional pressure is on the sales person to serve. This pressure intensifies to a maximum when the customer becomes an established client. The customer-sales person interaction can, therefore, be conceptually divided into two phases along the line of status dominance.     

The Dominance Effect? Multinational Corporations in the Italian Quick‐Food Service Sector

This paper is based on a study of the employment practices of one Italian‐owned multinational corporation (MNC) and one US‐owned MNC in the Italian quick‐food service sector and examines such issues as work organization, unionization, employee representation and pay and conditions. The paper focuses on the concept of ‘dominance’ and the related convergence and divergence theses. The findings suggest that dominance can not only be interpreted as a mode of employment or production emanating from one country, but could also be associated with one dominant MNC in one sector. Consequently, it is argued that while the effect of host and home country influences may be significant factors in cross‐border employment relations practices, more attention needs to be paid to organizational contingencies and the sectoral characteristics within which firms operate.     

The treatment of market dominance

This paper first reviews the conceptual basis for Sherman Act treatments of market dominance. Chicago-UCLA objections to treatment are found to be weak and unproven. Then the results of leading past cases and of possible future candidates are discussed. A revival of Section 2 is needed, with extensive study of candidates, even if few firms are actually taken to legal action.     

Using mean-Gini and stochastic dominance to choose project portfolios with parameter uncertainty

Although a variety of models have been studied for project portfolio selection, many organizations still struggle to choose a potentially diverse range of projects while ensuring the most beneficial results. The use of the mean-Gini framework and stochastic dominance to select portfolios of research and development (R&D) projects has been gaining attention in the literature despite the fact that such approaches do not consider uncertainty regarding the projects’ parameters. This article discusses, with relation to project portfolio selection through a mean-Gini approach and stochastic dominance, the impact of uncertainty on project parameters. In the process, Monte Carlo simulation is considered in evaluating the impact of parametric uncertainty on project selection. The results show that the influence of uncertainty is significant enough to mislead managers. A more robust selection policy using the mean-Gini approach and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed.     

我国氯碱工业的现状和发展

介绍了我国氯碱工业的现状、存在的问题以及主要耗氯化工产品的开发应用情况。目前我国氯碱工业的产品结构由以碱为主转向以氯为主。因此，就如何合理开发生产氯衍生产品，搞好氯碱平衡进行了探讨。