Open AccessThe Significance of Barriers to Entry in the Construction Industry
Author(s) -
Gerard de Valence
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
construction economics and building
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 20
ISSN - 2204-9029
DOI - 10.5130/ajceb.v7i1.2975
Subject(s) - oligopoly , barriers to entry , industrial organization , construction industry , dozen , business , product (mathematics) , marketing , market structure , economics , microeconomics , engineering , construction engineering , geometry , arithmetic , mathematics , cournot competition
This research looks at the significance of barriers that firms considering entry into the construction industry might face. Drawing on the microeconomic characteristics of imperfectly competitive and oligopolistic markets the analysis finds that there are a dozen barriers to entry that affect the industry, but their significance depends on the product type. The discussion covers the question of product homogeneity in construction and evidence for the existence of barriers to entry in concentration levels. Barriers to entry specific to construction are then identified, which leads to an analysis of how they operate and their significance (high, medium or low) in different market types, thus increasing our understanding of construction industry dynamics