Customer switching costs can limit the opportunities for new entry in some markets. Incumbent firms may be able to reduce these switching costs, but have no incentive to do so without regulatory intervention. For example, in telecommunications, incumbent firms can provide customers with number...

Local number portability (LNP) is a key factor in the promotion of local call competition in telecommunications. By allowing a consumer to retain their number when moving between local telephone providers, LNP reduces customers' switching costs and makes it easier for new providers to compete...

Mixed-bundling of groceries and gasoline is common in a range of countries including Australia, the US, the UK, and parts of Europe. However, it has raised competition concerns. In Australia, the competition authority, fearing 'predation' and exit by independent gasoline retailers, has imposed a...

In recent times, pairs of retailers such as supermarket and retail gasoline chains have offered bundled discounts to customers who buy their respective product brands. These discounts are a fixed amount off the headline prices that allied brands continue to set independently. In this paper, we...

A buyer group is a subset of downstream firms that pool their demand for an upstream input to negotiate a better deal with suppliers. This paper develops a simple model that shows how a buyer group changes market behavior, focusing on the impact on downstream firms outside the buyer group. This...

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has powers under the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cwlth) to accept undertakings from industry participants interested in taking actions, such as mergers, that may potentially be anticompetitive. This paper analyses the role of undertakings,...

Recent trade practices decisions in Australia emphasise a structural approach to market power. Modern economic analysis, however, highlights situations where firms that currently lack 'structural' market power may engage in strategic behaviour aimed at altering market structure. Such firms have...