Joe S. Bain

Bio: Joe S. Bain is an academic researcher from University of California, Berkeley. The author has contributed to research in topics: Competition (economics) & Character (mathematics). The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 27 publications receiving 9138 citations. Previous affiliations of Joe S. Bain include University of California.

Barriers to new competition

Abstract: Conditions of entry into markets where sellers are few are analyzed intensively by Professor J. S. Bain in his Barriers to New Competition.1 In the tightly written first chapter the theory of entry is developed far beyond what was previously in the literature. There emerges a series of hypotheses as to the conditions of entry, and the probable degree to which they serve as barriers to new competition. A bold attempt is then made to measure the height of these barriers in 20 manufacturing industries. Predictions stemming from these empirical findings are compared with observed performance of these industries. Finally, the conclusions with respect to the significance of types of entry barriers lead to a number of observations as to public policy. All of this comprehensive analysis is carried out explicitly within the framework of comparative statics. Specifically excluded from the circumstances considered as having a significant effect on entry, and through that on the maximum level of the equilibrium price, are secular or cyclical [or episodic?] movements of demand, capacity or costs. Nor, except for a few notable cases of product innovation, does Bain believe that new sellers are able to alter the condition of entry. Instead, "It is definitely posited for purposes of the present study-on the basis of extensive empirical observation-that the condition of entry as defined and its ultimate determinants are usually stable and slowly changing through time . . ." (p. 18). Such stability is elsewhere said to exist "persistently . . . over a period of time." Repeatedly this or a similar phrase appears to emphasize that observation ex post can be tied conceptually to the ex ante long-term equilibrium. Such stable and slowly changing conditions of entry are held to determine the ceiling price for an industry or the amount by which its price can, persistently, exceed the level ". . . hypothetically attributed to long-run equilibrium in pure competition" (p. 6). The actual persistent level of price may fall short of this entry-inviting level because of the nature of interfirm rivalry. The latter opens up the whole of oligopoly theory, but the author moves into that area only to indicate how the alternative solutions to interfirm rivalry would affect the price expectations of a would-be entrant. Entry is marked off from other sources of capacity expansion by the require-

Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940

Abstract: I. The concentration-profits hypothesis, 294. — II. Industry definition, measure of concentration, and selection of sample, 297. — III. Character and limitations of profit data, 305. — IV. Calculation of accounting profit rates, 310. — V. Association of industry profit rates and concentration, 311. — VI. Association of firm profit rates and industry concentration, 317. — VII. Association of profit rates with other determinants, 321. — VIII. Summary, 323.

The Profit Rate as a Measure of Monopoly Power

Abstract: The meaning of monopoly, 271. — The problem of measurement, 272. — Theoretical excess profits as indicators of monopoly, 273. — The problem of defining the rate of excess profit, 275. — Definition of the rate for a short fiscal period, 277. — The quantity of assets which a competitive firm will hold, 281. — The relation of the accounting to the theoretical rate of profit, 289. — The accounting profit rate as a measure of monopoly power, 291.

The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view

Abstract: This paper elucidates the underlying economics of the resource-based view of competitive advantage and integrates existing perspectives into a parsimonious model of resources and firm performance. The essence of this model is that four conditions underlie sustained competitive advantage, all of which must be met. These include superior resources (heterogeneity within an industry), ex post limits to competition, imperfect resource mobility, and ex ante limits to competition. In the concluding section, applications of the model for both single business strategy and corporate strategy are discussed.

The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions

Abstract: This article reviews some of the criticisms directed towards the eclectic paradigm of international production over the past decade, and restates its main tenets. The second part of the article considers a number of possible extensions of the paradigm and concludes by asserting that it remains “a robust general framework for explaining and analysing not only the economic rationale of economic production but many organisational and impact issues in relation to MNE activity as well.”