Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks

On 2nd December 2009, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced its intention to oppose the acquisition of Mobil's Australian retails assets by Caltex, based in part on an assessment of the adverse competition effects in some local markets. The proposed merger was subs...

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Main Authors: Bloch, Harry, Wills-Johnson, N.
Format: Journal Article
Published: The Australian National University 2011
Online Access:http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Agenda,+Volume+18,+Number+3,+2011/7641/Text/blochandwillsjohnson.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/9452
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author Bloch, Harry
Wills-Johnson, N.
author_facet Bloch, Harry
Wills-Johnson, N.
author_sort Bloch, Harry
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description On 2nd December 2009, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced its intention to oppose the acquisition of Mobil's Australian retails assets by Caltex, based in part on an assessment of the adverse competition effects in some local markets. The proposed merger was subsequently abandoned. The ACCC assessment was based on a standard structural measure of competition, the proportion of petrol stations within each local market that would become controlled by Caltex following such a merger. This paper applies an alternative concept of competition bases on the position of each station within a network. Application of the alternative concept to the Perth market, which was excluded from the ACCC analysis, suggests a greater anti-competitive effect from the Caltex-Mobil merger than indicated by application of the standard structural measure of competition.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-94522017-01-30T11:12:50Z Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks Bloch, Harry Wills-Johnson, N. On 2nd December 2009, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced its intention to oppose the acquisition of Mobil's Australian retails assets by Caltex, based in part on an assessment of the adverse competition effects in some local markets. The proposed merger was subsequently abandoned. The ACCC assessment was based on a standard structural measure of competition, the proportion of petrol stations within each local market that would become controlled by Caltex following such a merger. This paper applies an alternative concept of competition bases on the position of each station within a network. Application of the alternative concept to the Perth market, which was excluded from the ACCC analysis, suggests a greater anti-competitive effect from the Caltex-Mobil merger than indicated by application of the standard structural measure of competition. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/9452 http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Agenda,+Volume+18,+Number+3,+2011/7641/Text/blochandwillsjohnson.html The Australian National University restricted
spellingShingle Bloch, Harry
Wills-Johnson, N.
Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks
title Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks
title_full Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks
title_fullStr Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks
title_full_unstemmed Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks
title_short Appraising the ACCC's Caltex-Mobil decision: An alternative measure of competition based on networks
title_sort appraising the accc's caltex-mobil decision: an alternative measure of competition based on networks
url http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Agenda,+Volume+18,+Number+3,+2011/7641/Text/blochandwillsjohnson.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/9452