Title page
Contents
Foreword 3
1. Introduction 5
2. Defining economic moats and entrenchment 7
2.1. The concept of economic moat 7
2.2. The concept of entrenchment 8
2.3. The relationship between economic moats, entrenchment and market power 10
2.4. Rising market power across industries: the example of the digital economy 11
3. Economic moats and entrenchment: antitrust analysis and potential enforcement challenges 14
3.1. Assessing market definition, dominance and barriers to entry 14
3.2. Theories of harm: leveraging and exclusion 15
3.3. Examples of exclusionary practices 16
3.4. Potential enforcement challenges 22
4. Policy options on how to address moats and entrenchment 25
4.1. Investigative and analytical tools 25
4.2. Strengthening the current regulatory tools 29
4.3. Strengthening the current enforcement tools 30
5. Conclusions 34
References 35
Boxes
Box 2.1. Examples of the use of the term entrenchment by competition authorities 9
Box 3.1. Self-preferencing in Brazil 17
Box 3.2. Acquisition of VMware by Broadcom: a multijurisdictional approach to interoperability and entrenchment 18
Box 3.3. Recent examples of conglomerate mergers with potential entrenchment effects 20
Box 3.4. A recent acquisition of a nascent competitor challenged in Europe and in the US: the acquisition of Figma by Adobe 22
Box 4.1. Examples of recent market studies linked to economic moats and entrenchment 26
Box 4.2. Market investigations power and examples of recent trends across jurisdictions 28
Box 4.3. Examples of recent legal framework adjustments in unilateral conduct to reflect market dynamics 31