Business, Legal & Accounting Glossary
A barrier to entry (or barriers to entry) is an economic term used to define the conditions that make entry of a firm into a certain market or sector of the economy difficult. Companies find it extremely difficult to establish a base in such a market dominated by a well-established firm. The market then becomes a monopoly of that firm or duopoly of two such firms. In a market-driven by competition, profits made by the incumbents comes at the cost of their buyers and suppliers. It has been observed that markets that have higher barriers to entry act as sustainable competitive advantages and produce powerful incumbents.
Some of the industries that have high barriers to entry include mining and car making. Photographic services and computer hardware retailing have low barriers to entry.
A barrier to exit (or barriers to exit) refers to the challenges faced by companies, which find it tough to withdraw from a particular market, especially after realizing that it is hardly profitable. Player recedes to the lowest position in the market. Profit made by the incumbents of the market is comparatively lower. The factors that resist an exit from a market include lack of ways to obtain profit from the assets, in which investment has already been made. Aviation and wireless telecommunications industry have high barriers to exit while personal care services and the retail industry have low barriers to exit.
Perfect competition in a market exists when the following five economic imperatives are met:
Perfect competition exists only in a theoretical market structure.
Monopoly is a market condition where a single commercial entity like a group or company controls all or nearly all of the market for a specific product or service. This market condition is marked by a noted absence of competition- resulting in low-quality products and high product prices.
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This glossary post was last updated: 28th March, 2020 | 4 Views.