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Winner of the Finnish Lawyers´ Society Award for the best legal doctoral
dissertation in Finland in 2009.
Although the question posed by the title of this book has generated
considerable debate, the essential issue remains open and largely blurred.
While some believe that there is no so-called ‘small market problem’, others
discern discrimination against small market companies (i.e., companies with a
strong position in their home markets but a modest position in the European
and global markets) and a consequent need for changes in competition law. The
author of this enormously helpful work here sets the stage for meaningful
discussion by analysing the EC Merger Regulation’s objectives, economic
foundations, and application practice to present a reasoned view of the issues
that can be considered relevant for such a discussion. Considering their
effect on the ’small market problem’, the author scrutinizes such factors as
the following:
-
the Commission’s methodology for delineating relevant markets in merger
assessments;
-
unnecessary prohibition caused by overestimation of the market power of small
market mergers;
-
erroneous approval of cases that should actually be prohibited;
-
impact of the so-called ‘Harvard’ and ‘Chicago’ schools of competition theory
and their key policy implications;
-
process-related alternative views of competition and new synthesizing
approaches;
-
relevant criteria for a proper analysis of market power;
-
concentration measures and market shares;
-
barriers to entry;
-
price and profitability analyses; and
-
product definition v. geographic definition of markets.
In a final chapter, the author presents some tentative conclusions, normative
in nature, concerning the problem and the relevant issues relating to it. As
the first in-depth analysis of the issues that are actually involved – with
its particular diagnosis of the assessment of market power in considering the
relevant issues for the problem – this study brings into salience the terms of
the debate on the ‘problem’, and thus takes a giant step forward towards
defining what needs to be done. Competition lawyers, policymakers, and
academics in Europe and elsewhere will find the discussion of great value.
List of Tables and Figures
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Market Power, Competition Theory and Competition Policy
Chapter 3 Merger Control in the EU Competition Policy Control System
Chapter 4 The Assessment of Market Power
Chapter 5 Market Definition
Chapter 6 The Problem of Small Market Companies
Chapter 7 Conclusions and the Way Ahead
Bibliography
Table of Cases
Index
Summary of Contents