Firm/Market Equivalency: Determinants and Effects on Industry Dynamics

Abstract

Today's firm is a complex nexus of interactions, which it facilitates and regulates; it supports market activity by providing the participants with basic resources. Market failures form the foundation of this phenomenon; they create business opportunities that firms address through market support strategy. The concept of firm/market equivalency introduced here integrates an economics and a management strand of literature: multi-sided markets and business ecosystems & platforms. We address firm/market equivalency through concepts of interactions and gravity, i.e. density of firm's external interactions. We then apply these concepts to a case study and discuss implications of firm/market equivalency for antitrust policy.