Entry Barriers (entry + barrier)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Affording Universal Higher Education

HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2002
Lauchlan Chipman
Can we achieve universal or near,universal higher education within the next two decades, without a massive increase in government investment in higher education? It is argued that the answer is yes, with greater involvement of the private, for,profit sector, or by encouraging existing not,for,profit universities to open for,profit campuses, at which the emphasis is on high,quality and convenient undergraduate teaching, with little or no research, and a concentration on high,demand, low,cost disciplines. This position requires us to recognise that research engagement is not conceptually essential for an institution to count as a university, understood both historically and through international comparison. Rather, this assumption operates as a significant entry barrier to new, low,cost entrants. This paper provides a case study of the ways in which Central Queensland University has extended its operations by developing surplus,generating campuses through joint,venture operations with the private sector, and argues such an operation could just as easily be developed as a free,standing, for,profit mode of university degree delivery , provided that present, artificial, protectionist limitations on the use of the name ,university' are removed. Degree programmes of such institutions should, of course, be subject to the same quality assurance standards as apply to existing universities. [source]


External Transaction Costs and Large-scale Farming in Moscow Oblast Coûts de transaction externes et agriculture à grande échelle dans la région de Moscou Externe Transaktionskosten und landwirtschaftliche Großbetriebe in der Oblast Moskau

EUROCHOICES, Issue 2 2010
Nikolai SvetlovArticle first published online: 3 AUG 2010
Summary External Transaction Costs and Large-scale Farming in Moscow Oblast The article addresses the reasons for the domination of large-scale corporate farms in the Moscow oblast of Russia and concludes that high external transaction costs are likely to be an important determining factor. Over the nine year period studied, larger farms are shown to achieve higher performance. Increasing returns to scale, however, were not significant in explaining the superior performance of the larger farms. It is hypothesised that high external transaction costs due to lack of transparency in the milk market, typical of underdeveloped markets, give the larger farms a competitive advantage. Their search costs per unit of output are relatively low and they are able therefore to achieve higher farm-gate prices for milk as a result. The results confirm the dependence of the farm-gate milk price on farm size due to the presence of high transaction costs in the market of milk, the major output of the studied farms. The high performance farms were able to grow during the study period whereas the lower performing farms had limited growth capacity. A more competitive and transparent market environment along with improved infrastructure could lower transaction costs and entry barriers and provide opportunities for smaller scale corporate farms to compete more effectively. Cet article essaie d'expliquer les raisons de la domination des grandes exploitations agricoles constituées en société de la région de Moscou et conclut que l'ampleur des coûts de transaction externes est probablement un facteur explicatif important. Au cours de la période étudiée qui couvre neuf années, les exploitations les plus grandes ont enregistré les performances les plus élevées. Les rendements d'échelle croissants n'ont cependant pas expliqué de manière significative la meilleure performance de ces exploitations. Nous faisons l'hypothèse que les forts coûts de transaction externes liés au manque de transparence sur le marché laitier, typique des marchés incomplètement développés, donnent à ces plus grandes exploitations un avantage compétitif. Leur coût de recherche par unité de produit est relativement bas et elles sont donc capables d'obtenir des prix au niveau de la ferme plus élevés pour le lait. Les résultats confirment la dépendance des prix à la ferme envers la taille de l'exploitation du fait de la présence de coûts de transaction élevés sur le marché laitier, le lait étant le principal produit des exploitations étudiées. Les exploitations très performantes ont pu croître au cours de la période examinée tandis que les capacités de développement des exploitations les moins performantes étaient limitées. Un environnement de marché plus concurrentiel et transparent ainsi que de meilleures infrastructures pourraient réduire les coûts de transaction et les barrières à l'entrée dans le secteur, et fournir des opportunités aux exploitations constituées en société de plus petite taille d'être concurrentielles de manière plus efficace. Dieser Beitrag untersucht, weshalb es in der russischen Oblast Moskau hauptsächlich große Corporate Farms gibt, und kommt zu dem Schluss, dass dafür wahrscheinlich hohe externe Transaktionskosten ausschlaggebend sind. Über den neunjährigen Untersuchungszeitraum waren größere Betriebe erfolgreicher. Steigende Skalenerträge waren jedoch bei der Begründung für den höheren Erfolg der größeren Betriebe nicht maßgeblich. Es wird angenommen, dass hohe externe Transaktionskosten aufgrund von fehlender Transparenz auf dem Milchmarkt , typisch für unterentwickelte Märkte , den größeren Betrieben einen Wettbewerbsvorteil verschaffen. Ihre Suchkosten pro Produkteinheit sind relativ gering, daher sind sie in der Lage, höhere Preise für Milch ab Hof zu erzielen. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen die Abhängigkeit des Preises für Milch ab Hof von der Betriebsgröße, weil es auf dem Markt für Milch (dem wichtigsten Produkt der untersuchten Betriebe) hohe Transaktionskosten gibt. Den erfolgreichen Betrieben gelang es, über den Untersuchungszeitraum zu wachsen, während die leistungsschwächeren Betriebe nur eingeschränkt wachstumsfähig waren. Ein wettbewerbsfähigeres und transparenteres Marktumfeld in Kombination mit einer besseren Infrastruktur könnte die Transaktionskosten und Marktzugangsbeschränkungen senken sowie kleineren Corporate Farms Möglichkeiten eröffnen, um effektiver am Wettbewerb teilzunehmen. [source]


Structural change and market power in the U.S. food manufacturing sector

AGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009
Kyle W. Stiegert
This study develops an intertemporally linked market model to explore the relationships between price-cost margins, market concentration, and advertising outlay. The study used data from 48 four-digit SIC (standardized industrial classification) codes for the Food and Tobacco Processing Industries during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The authors' findings provide evidence that both high and low levels of performance provide signals to industries to consolidate, but for obvious and different reasons. Further, increased consolidation leads to increased entry barriers (advertising) and higher profits to the industry. Our findings are supportive of both Chicago and Traditionalist Schools of thought about antitrust enforcement: Neither emerges in a dominant position. Endogeneity issues and findings within the intertemporal structure cast considerable doubt about overly simplistic structure,performance paradigms of firm behavior. [JEL Code: L11, L40, L66]. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


BANK COMPETITION, CONCENTRATION AND EFFICIENCY IN THE SINGLE EUROPEAN MARKET,

THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 4 2006
BARBARA CASU
The deregulation of financial services in the European Union (EU), together with the establishment of the Economic and Monetary Union, aimed at the creation of a level playing-field in the provision of banking services across the EU. The plan was to remove entry barriers and to foster both competition and efficiency in national banking markets. However, one of the effects of the regulatory changes was to spur a trend towards consolidation, resulting in the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions. To investigate the impact of increased consolidation on the competitive conditions of the EU banking markets, we employ both structural (concentration ratios) and non-structural (Panzar,Rosse statistic) concentration measures. Using bank-level balance sheet data for the major EU banking markets, in a period following the introduction of the Single Banking Licence (1997,2003), this paper also investigates the factors that may influence the competitive conditions. Specifically, we control for differences in efficiency estimates, structural conditions and institutional characteristics. The results seem to suggest that the degree of concentration is not necessarily related to the degree of competition. We also find little evidence that more efficient banking systems are also more competitive. The relationship between competition and efficiency is not a straightforward one: increased competition has forced banks to become more efficient but increased efficiency does not seem to be fostering more competitive EU banking systems. [source]


Contagion or Real Linkages?

CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 4 2007
Some Evidence from China's Emerging Parallel Markets
F3; G15; P33 Abstract This paper empirically tests the existence of contagion using data on China's five parallel markets with different entry barriers for foreign capital. Taking the 1997 stock market crash as our experiment and using data on A, B and H shares, red chips and American depository receipts, the present paper tests whether these China-backed market returns respond differently to foreign shocks during the pre-1997 and post-1997 crash period. Evidence suggests that the contagion effects are stronger in markets with fewer entry barriers. An important implication of our findings is that countries vulnerable to contagion could be justified to impose some limits on capital flows. [source]