In this paper, we examine the effects of market competition on corporate performance. In the first stage, we use Herfindahl-Hirschman Index to measure the degree of competition and markets are divided into three categories, namely competition, moderate competition and oligopoly. Fama-French is used to examine whether there is abnormal return existing in competition market. Then we use the index constructed by Chen, Kao, Tsao and Wu (2007) to decide the performance of internal governance and use it with competition degree to conduct the regression. This paper finds the following results, 1. the moderate competition market is reducing; 2. the portfolio of firms in competition markets outperforms that in oligopoly; 3. market competition has positive effect on ROA, ROE, EPS and Tobin¡¦s Q; 4. market competition and corporate governance are complementary.

This study seeks to determine if media ownership diversity remains at levels widely considered to be competitive and acceptable, despite consolidation within the media industry. The research augments the many studies analyzing programming diversity within the U. S. media industry. Rather than analyzing programming content, this study addresses ownership diversity by examining the diversity of media ownership within the context U. S. model, considered to be more of a decentralized, market-driven media industry when compared to other countries such as the United Kingdom or Canada. To measure diversity, the HerfindahlHirschman Index (HHI)—a measure of economic diversity widely used by economists as well as government regulatory agencies—is used. Suggestions are presented for the future of media and regulation to insure a competitive, diverse, and healthy media industry.

After the financial crisis, several comparison websites have emerged for private lenders to enable comparison on mortgage terms. The idea behind the comparison pages is that they should be used by the private borrower. On June 1, 2015, a new directive emerged from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to the credit institutes that instead of the list interest, the average interest rate that the lenders offer their customers should be the one published, in order to further increase the transparency of the price. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether competition in the mortgage market has improved after the introduction of the comparison websites and the effects of the increased price transparency. In order to investigate the competition on the mortgage market, the theory of market forms and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index has been applied. The result of the study shows that the concentration of competition has increased over time. This study also shows that the comparison pages have contributed to increased price transparency that has contributed to consumers information about the market. This study is limited to the Swedish mortgage market. / Efter finanskrisen har flertalet jämförelsesidor uppkommit för att möjliggöra jämförelser av räntor och villkor på bolån. Jämförelsesidor ska förenkla processen att jämföra de olika långivarna. Den 1 juni 2015 kom ett nytt direktiv från finansinspektionen till långivarna att istället för listräntan ska den genomsnittliga räntan som långivarna ger sina kunder vara den som publiceras, för att öka pristransparensen ytterligare. Denna studies syfte är att undersöka hur konkurrensen på bolånemarknaden har förändrats efter jämförelsesidornas tillkomst med HHI-index och konkurrensteori. Teori om marknadsformer och Herfindahl-Hirschman Index att tillämpas för att undersöka konkurrensen. Resultatet av studien visar att koncentrationen av konkurrensen har ökat över tid. Denna studie visar även att jämförelsesidorna har bidragit med ökad pristransparens som har bidragit till konsumenternas information om marknaden. Studien är avgränsad till den svenska bolånemarknaden.

Syftet med studien är att analysera förändringen i de svenska partiernas politiska program genom att tillämpa Public Choice skolans modeller. Med hjälp av medianväljarteoremet och Hotellingmodellen analyseras om modellerna är tillräckligt beskrivande för Sveriges partiförflyttningar. Vidare beräknas Herfindahl-Hirschman index för graden av maktkoncentration på den politiska ”marknaden”. Herfindahl-Hirschman indexet visar att koncentrationen på den politiska marknad blivit lägre över tid, viket indikerar på att konkurrensen mellan partierna blivit allt högre under perioden 1973-2014. För att analysera om det går att förklara förändringar i partiernas politik under perioden 1973-2014 tillämpas medianväljarteoremet. En diskussion kring testning av modellen görs samt en illustration hur medianväljarteoremet skulle kunna se ut för Sveriges partier. För att analysera om en endimensionell skala är beskrivande för de svenska partiernas förflyttningar har Hotellingmodellen tillämpats. Genom att illustrera dessa två modeller på Sveriges partier undersöks om modellerna ger en tillfredställande beskrivningar av förändringen i de svenska partiernas politiska program. Analysen ger vid handen att att Medianväljarmodellen inte förklarar förändringarna i partiernas politik på ett tillräckligt utförligt sätt. Hotellingmodellen kan bättre förklar både de svenska partiernas förflyttningar på vänster-högerskalan samt förändringar i partiernas politik. Utöver de nämnda modellerna konstateras att den enskilda faktor som är mest betydelsefull för hur partierna ändrat sina politiska program är partiernas beroende av väljarnas åsikter. / The aim of the study is to analyze changes in the Swedish political parties programs by applying the Public Choice approach. With help from the median voter theorem and the Harold Hotelling model, the paper analyzes if these models are sufficiently descriptive of Swedens political parties movements. A Herfindahl-Hirschman index is constructed which shows changes in concentration of political power over time. The Herfindahl-Hirschman index shows that the degree of concentration in the Swedish political “market” has become lower over time, which indicates that the party competition has increased during the period 1973-2014. In order to analyze whether it is possible to explain changes in the parties’ policies during the period 1973-2014 the median voter theorem is applied. A discussion about how this model can be tested is done as well as an illustration of how the median voter theorem could look like for the parties in Sweden. To analyze whether a one-dimensional scale is descriptive of the movements of the Swedish parties, the Harold Hotelling model is also applied. By illustrating these two models on Swedens parties, the paper investigates whether these models provide a satisfactory descriptions of the change in the Swedish parties political programs. The analysis concludes that the median voter theorem does not explain the changes in the parties politics in a sufficiently detailed manner. It is revealed that the Harold Hotelling model provides a better description for both the Swedish parties movements at the left-right scale and for the changes in the parties politics. In addition to the models mentioned the factor that that is most important for how the parties changed their political programs is the parties’ dependence of the voters opinions.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation examines the measurement of business concentration by the Herfindahl- Hirschman Index (HHI). In the course of the examination, a modification to this method of measurement of business concentration is proposed, in terms of which the accuracy of the conventional depiction of the HHI can be enhanced by a formulation involving the Gini index. Computational advantages in the use of this new method are identified, which reveal the Ginibased HHI to be an effective substitute for its regular counterpart. It is found that theoretically and in practice, the proposed new method has strengths that favour its usage. The practical advantages of employing this method are considered with a view to encouraging the measurement of business concentration using the Gini-based index of the HHI. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek die meting van sakekonsentrasie deur middel van die Herfindahl- Hirschman-indeks (HHI). ‘n Wysiging aan hierdie metode word voorgestel, deur middel waarvan die akkuraatheid van die konvensionele voorstelling van die HHI verhoog word, deur ‘n formulering wat die Gini-indeks betrek. Die berekeningsvoordele van hierdie nuwe metode word geïdentifiseer en dit word aangetoon dat die Gini-gebaseerde HHI ’n doeltreffende plaasvervanger vir sy meer bekende teenvoeter is. Daar word bevind dat die voorgestelde nuwe metode teoretiese en praktiese sterkpunte het wat die gebruik daarvan ondersteun. Die praktiese voordele van die voorgestelde metode word oorweeg met die oog op die aanmoediging van die gebruik van die Gini-gebaseerde HHI-indeks as maatstaf van sakekonsentrasie.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the strategic behavior of the leading firms on the Swedish wholesale electricity market. This thesis wishes to address the competition situation on the market and how the firms can manipulate the price in order to maximize the profits. The Swedish electricity market was deregulated in 1996 and the predicted outcome was that the competition on the market would increase. However, today’s market is highly vertically integrated with three dominating firms; Vattenfall, E.ON, and Fortum. Moreover, the market has similar characteristics of an oligopoly with high entry barriers, limited room for product differentiation, and limited access of information. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index and the Lerner Index show that the wholesale electricity market is highly concentrated and that market power exists. Besides external factors that affect the electricity price, such as emission trading and the amount of water in the reservoirs, the leading firms can with their market power manipulate the price. This can be done by preventing new entrants to enter the market which has led to underinvestment in new capacity with lower production costs.

<p>The aim of this paper is to analyze the strategic behavior of the leading firms on the Swedish wholesale electricity market. This thesis wishes to address the competition situation on the market and how the firms can manipulate the price in order to maximize the profits.</p><p>The Swedish electricity market was deregulated in 1996 and the predicted outcome was that the competition on the market would increase. However, today’s market is highly vertically integrated with three dominating firms; Vattenfall, E.ON, and Fortum. Moreover, the market has similar characteristics of an oligopoly with high entry barriers, limited room for product differentiation, and limited access of information.</p><p>The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index and the Lerner Index show that the wholesale electricity market is highly concentrated and that market power exists.</p><p>Besides external factors that affect the electricity price, such as emission trading and the amount of water in the reservoirs, the leading firms can with their market power manipulate the price. This can be done by preventing new entrants to enter the market which has led to underinvestment in new capacity with lower production costs.</p>

This thesis will examine whether the price level on the market of mobile services in comparison with other countries is high or not. After performing own international price comparison which revealed high price level in both analyzed consumer baskets thesis offers some possible options which could lead to the current high price level on the market. The observed high market concentration is one of the possible solutions and leads to discover several solutions whose analysis shows that high price level in the Czech mobile services market cannot be associated with only one factor. The price level is mainly affected by the absence of more operators which can be partly attributed to the insufficient steps of market regulator - ČTÚ especially in the area of termination fees and lease licenses to operating in mobile networks. Both of these steps are also very important for the future development of the market.

Studien går ut på att analysera marknadsstrukturen för två industriföretag(Holmen och SCA) under antagandet att båda konkurrerar mot varandragenom att köpa rå material samt genom att sälja förädlade produkter.Produktmarknaden som undersöks är pappersmarknaden och antas varakoncentrerad. Rå materialmknaden som undersöks ärmassavedmarknaden och antas karaktäriseras som en duopsony. Detvisade sig att Holmen och SCA köper massaved från en stor mängdskogsägare. Varje företag skapar varje månad en prislista där de bestämmerbud priset föassaved. Priset varierar beroende på region. Både SCA ochHolmen väljer mellan två strategiska beslut, antigen att buda högt pris ellerlågt pris. Genom spelteori så visade det sig att båda industriföretagenanvänder mixade strategier då de i vissa tillfällen budar högt och i andratillfällen budar lågt. Nash jämviktslägen för mixade strategier räknades utmatematiskt och analyserades genom dynamisk spelteori.Marknadskoncentrationen för pappersmarknaden undersöktes viaHerfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). Porters femkraftsmodell användes föratt analysera industri konkurrensen. Resultatet visade attproduktmarknaden är koncentrerad då HHI testerna gav höga indexvärdenmellan 3100 och 1700. Det existerade dessutom ett Nash jämviktsläge fö mixade strategier som gav SCA förväntad lönsamhet 1651 miljoner kronoroch Holmen 1295 miljoner kronor. Dynamisk spelteori visade att SCA ochHolmens budgivning följer ett mönster och att högt/lågt bud beror påavvikelser från Nash jämviktslägets sannolikhetsdistribution. Nashjämviktslägets råder ifall sannolikhetsdistributionerna vid låg budgivningär 68,6 procent för SCA och 66,7 procent för Holmen. Detta gav indikatore för icke samarbetsvilliga spel. Slutsatsen är att om två spelare (kvarnar) når / The research aims to analyze the market structure of two companies in th forest industry (Holmen and SCA) with the assumption that thes companies compete at buying raw materials and selling products. Theproduct market in this study is the paper market under the assumption thatboth companies operate in a concentrated product market. The rawmatial market that one investigates in this study is the pulpwood marketunder the assumption that it is a duopsony. What this study has concludedis that Holmen and SCA buy pulpwood from lots of different self-managingforest owners. Each company creates a monthly pricelist where they decidethe bid price of pulpwood. The amount varies depending on the region. Bot SCA and Holmen chooses between two strategic decisions, either to bid highor to bid low. Through game theory, it has been clear that each company usesmixed strategies as they sometimes give high bids and sometimes give lowbids. The Nash equilibrium for mixed strategies have been calculatedmathematically and analyzed through the dynamics of game theory. As fore market concentration, the product market has been investigatedthrough the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). Porter's five-force modelwas used to analyze the industry competition. The results showed that theproduct market is concentrated as the HHI tests gave High index scoresbetween 3100 and 1700. In addition, there existed a Nash equilibrium in amixed strategy that gave SCA expected payoff 1651 million SEK and Holmen1295 million SEK. The dynamic game theory showed that SCA and Holmen'sbidding follows a repeating trajectory and that the high/low bidding is dueto deviations from Nash equilibrium probability distribution. The Nashequilibrium situation prevails if the probability distribution at low biddingis 68.6 percent for SCA and 66,7 percent for Holmen. This providedindicators for a non-cooperative game. The conclusion is that if two players

This thesis presents an econometric methodology for analyzing the impact of market concentration (HHI) on the day rate prices paid by E&P operators for the lease of drilling rigs. It is an extension of the work of Lee (2008), ‘Measuring the Impact of Concentration in the Drilling Rig Market’. Specifically, the work entailed using a more detailed time series data than was initially used (quarterly), analyzing impact of concentration on day rate prices by water depth specification of drilling rigs, and accounting for the impact of autocorrelation on the analysis. The results for jack-ups, without adjustment for autocorrelation, supported the results of the prior study i.e. showing that increase in HHI causes rig day rate price increase. However, the results for semi-submersibles was inconclusive as it varied from region to region and also was contrary to the assumptions of positive relationships between HHI and day rate prices made in this study. These results imply that market concentration caused both price increase and decrease within the industry depending on whether it increased market power or increased cost efficiency and technological ability. / text