Barriers to Entry and Strategic Competition

Barriers to Entry and Strategic Competition

PAUL GEROSKI

London Business School

RICHARD J. GILBERT

University of California, Berkeley, USA

ALEXIS JACQUEMIN

Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

I. INTRODUCTION

Entry is a source of competitive discipline on the industrial performance of firms. The threat of entry by new competitors puts a constraint on the latitude of existing firms to conduct their operations in ways that adversely effect consumers, while actual entry changes the structure of markets in ways that often brings about the same ends. Entry, actual or potential, can upset traditional patterns of market conduct, de-throne dominant firms, introduce new technology and fresh approaches to product design and marketing, and lead to ...