Browsing by Subject "Competition"
Now showing 1 - 20 of 26
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A dynamic decision model for a single-activity manufacturing firm, under competition(Texas Tech University, 1977-05) Thongprasert, Sirichan PrasatkulNot availableItem A simultaneous equations analysis of market structure, conduct and performance: new evidence from United States manufacturing industries(Texas Tech University, 1997-05) Gunalp, BurakIn this study, we specify and estimate a simultaneous equations model of US manufacturing industries in which advertising intensity, concentration, and profitability are treated as endogenous variables. Concentration is explained in terms of dynamic adjustment of concentration to its longrun level, while advertising intensity and profitability are determined by variables derived primarily from the profitmaximizing behavior of firms.Item Business models for competitive success in the United States textile industry(Texas Tech University, 2006-08) Welch, James Mark; Lyford, Conrad; Malaga, Jaime; Hunt, James G.; Johnson, Phillip N.Intensifying global competition is threatening the survival of the U.S. textile industry. This research will provide insight and propose strategic responses to this competitive economic environment. The goal of this research effort is twofold: first, to gain a better understanding of the nature of competition in industrial settings, and second, to identify opportunities for successful performance in competitive environments. This research is comprised of three papers that address issues related to strategic response to competitive pressures. The first paper in this dissertation, "Measuring Competition for Textiles: Does the U.S. Make the Grade?" provides a measure of the current competitive state of the U.S. textile industry. This paper evaluates the U.S. competitive position in the cotton yarn segment of the textile industry using established quantifiable measures and provides an overall competitive assessment. The measures employed show the United States to be at a relative competitive disadvantage when compared to major international producers of cotton yarn. However, the margin of this competitive disadvantage is shown to be relatively small. U.S. metrics of competition are trending towards price parity and are virtually equivalent with major competitors in terms of costs of production. The second paper, "Business Models for Competitive Success in the U.S. Textile Industry", provides estimates of how certain strategic decisions impact levels of firm performance in a declining industry. This research provides empirical support for the role of agency of managerial choice in determining performance outcomes. The third paper, "A Model for the High-Value Marketing Pool Concept", develops a general research model for increased marketing returns via product differentiation in the presence of heterogeneous consumer demand. This paper offers a research design to investigate the essential elements of a successful and sustainable high-value marketing pool and the potential this marketing tool might have to increase returns for agricultural commodity producers. Insight gained into the above topics will help firms and producers of the U.S. textile industry cope with increasing levels of competitive intensity. This research seeks to contribute to the store of knowledge in the disciplines of agricultural economics and strategic management through an empirical application of their theories and concepts.Item Business models for competitive success in the United States textile industry(2006-08) Welch, James Mark; Lyford, Conrad; Malaga, Jaime; Johnson, Phillip N.; Hunt, James G.Intensifying global competition is threatening the survival of the U.S. textile industry. This research will provide insight and propose strategic responses to this competitive economic environment. The goal of this research effort is twofold: first, to gain a better understanding of the nature of competition in industrial settings, and second, to identify opportunities for successful performance in competitive environments. This research is comprised of three papers that address issues related to strategic response to competitive pressures. The first paper in this dissertation, "Measuring Competition for Textiles: Does the U.S. Make the Grade?" provides a measure of the current competitive state of the U.S. textile industry. This paper evaluates the U.S. competitive position in the cotton yarn segment of the textile industry using established quantifiable measures and provides an overall competitive assessment. The measures employed show the United States to be at a relative competitive disadvantage when compared to major international producers of cotton yarn. However, the margin of this competitive disadvantage is shown to be relatively small. U.S. metrics of competition are trending towards price parity and are virtually equivalent with major competitors in terms of costs of production. The second paper, "Business Models for Competitive Success in the U.S. Textile Industry", provides estimates of how certain strategic decisions impact levels of firm performance in a declining industry. This research provides empirical support for the role of agency of managerial choice in determining performance outcomes. The third paper, "A Model for the High-Value Marketing Pool Concept", develops a general research model for increased marketing returns via product differentiation in the presence of heterogeneous consumer demand. This paper offers a research design to investigate the essential elements of a successful and sustainable high-value marketing pool and the potential this marketing tool might have to increase returns for agricultural commodity producers. Insight gained into the above topics will help firms and producers of the U.S. textile industry cope with increasing levels of competitive intensity. This research seeks to contribute to the store of knowledge in the disciplines of agricultural economics and strategic management through an empirical application of their theories and concepts.Item Competition and collaboration issues in technology development and deployment(2007) Erzurumlu, Sadik Sinan; Gilbert, Stephen M.In today's marketplace firms have to become specialized in specific technological aspects in product development due to intensifying competition. Further, the increasing complexity of offerings make firms become more dependent on other value-chain contributors such as providers of complementary and component technologies. Therefore, in addition to the inherent market of appeal of product, a successful introduction may depend on the firm's interactions with suppliers and even "competitors". These interactions with other firms in the marketplace present a unique set of challenges to firms. In this dissertation, we explore how a firm's approach to interacting with supply chain partners and/or competitors may depend upon how its product provides value to customers. In the first essay, we look into how a firm should design the interdependence between a durable good and a consumable such as a printer and a cartridge and utilize the benefits of an industry of generic consumable suppliers. In the second essay, we analyze the different approaches that firms adopt while commercializing their technologies to competitors in a networked environment (such as telecommunications). We identify the impact of the competitor's development capabilities on the trade-off between the increased competition and network benefits. In the third essay, we explore situations in which firms collaborate to develop a component innovation that they later market individually; they codevelop and jointly market; and they choose to individually develop and market. We consider how competitive strategies between development partners should consider the influence of supplier formation on the investment incentives of an OEM. In summary, this dissertation examines how the management of interactions with supply chain partners and competitors can play an important role in technology development and deployment. Our results highlight key trade-offs and provide insights for managers who are involved in developing and deploying new products.Item Conflict and conflict resolution: the role of WTO in Sino-US trade disputes(Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Shiyong, YeNot availableItem Ecomorphological structure of an Amozonian phyllostomid bat assemblage(2008-05) Arias, Lily Carola; Willig, Michael R.; Strauss, Richard E.; Salazar, JorgeMorphologically similar species likely consume similar resources and thus engage in competitive interactions. Competitive exclusion arises if a superior species causes on the inferior species to become locally extinct. Alternatively, the populations may diverge in morphology and resource use, thus reducing competition and allowing coexistence. If competition is not intense enough to produce such patterns, it may nonetheless, have an effect on the population sizes of competitors by a mechanism known as density compensation. This deterministic mechanism should be expressed as a positive association between abundance and ecomorphological dissimilarity. Bats are ideal organisms with which to test hypotheses related to coexistence, especially in the Neotropics, where they reach their highest levels of taxonomic and functional diversity. In terms of species richness and abundance, the ensemble of frugivorous species is most dominant in those Neotropical assemblages. Herein, I use simulation models to evaluate the presence of interspecific competition, expressed as density compensation, in structuring the frugivore ensemble of the Iquitos bat assemblage in three habitats that differ in degree of modification. In each habitat, analyses were conducted with respect to four different scenarios based on proximity of morphological neighbors. In each scenario, parametric and non-parametric analyses were conducted, using multivariate and univariate metrics. Evidence of density compensation was weak in primary and mixed forest, and nonexistent in secondary forest. As such, interspecific competition may not be the main factor structuring the ensemble of frugivorous bats in Iquitos. A state of non-equilibrium produced by deforestation, a combination of mechanisms that operate at local and regional scales such as source-sink dynamics, or particular characteristics of the natural history of the bat species are possible factors that might account for the absence of evidence for strong deterministic mechanisms.Item Essays on non-price strategies in firm competition(2006-05) Lee, Seokhoon, 1971-; Stinchcombe, MaxwellItem Essays on the Relationship of Competition and Firms' Price Responses(2012-02-14) Lee, SungbokThis dissertation investigates the relationship of competition and firms' price responses, by analyzing: i) whether new entry reduces price discrimination, ii) when incumbents reduce price discrimination preemptively in response to the threat of entry, and iii) how competition increases prices. The dissertation consists of three independent essays addressing each of the above questions. The first two essays present an empirical analysis of the airline industry and the third essay presents a theoretical analysis of the credit card industry. In the empirical study of the relationship between competition and firms' pricing in the airline industry, I emphasize the importance of distinguishing the equilibrium behaviors with respect to different market characteristics. Major airlines can price discriminate differently in a market where they compete with low-cost carriers comparing to in another market where they don't, and also they can respond dfferently to the threat of entry depending on whether they are certain about the rival's future entry. The study reveals that competition has a positive effect on price discrimination in the routes where major airlines compete against one anther. In these routes, competition reduces lower-end prices to a greater extent than upper-end prices. In contrast, an entry by low-cost carriers results in a significant negative relationship between competition and price discrimination. Thus, the opposite results in the literature are both evident in the airline industry, and it is very important to identify the different forces of competition on price discrimination. Firms can respond to potential competition as well as actual competition. So, I extend the study to the relationship of potential competition and price discrimination, specially in cases where major airlines compete against one another while facing Southwest's threat of entry. I also attempt to suggest major airlines' motives of reducing price discrimination preemptively. The results of the study suggest that incumbents reduce price dispersion when it is possible to deter the rival's entry and that the potential rival discourages incumbents from deterring entry by announcing before its beginning service. Finally, I examine when competition can increase prices in a market, by analyzing the issuing side of the credit card industry. This industry is characterized by a two-sided market with a platform. Under the no-surcharge rule that restricts merchants to set the same price for cash and card purchases, the equilibrium interchange fee increases with competition. This occurs because issuers can compensate losses from competing on the issuing side by collectively increasing the interchange fee. As a result, limiting competition may improve social welfare when the interchange fee is higher than the social optimal level. In contrast, in the absence of the no-surcharge rule, the analysis shows that competition always improves social welfare by lowering the price of the market.Item Essays on vertical mergers, advertising, and competitive entry(2008-05) Ayar, Musa, 1979-; Hendricks, KennethThis dissertation consists of three independent essays. We briefly introduce these essays in chapter 1 and leave a comprehensive introduction to each essay. Chapter 2 considers a vertically separated industry where production takes time and vertical mergers shorten production time. We investigate the impact of vertical mergers on the downstream firms' ability to collude and show that vertical mergers facilitate downstream collusion. Chapter 3 provides a theoretical foundation for a puzzling empirical observation that advertising follows an inverted U shape for some new products. Chapter 4 analyzes an incumbent's response to a competitive entry. We show that if the quality of the entrant is uncertain, the incumbent can "jam" the quality signalling of the entrant. Finally, chapter 5 summarizes main conclusions of three essays.Item History and analysis of eSport systems(2014-12) Snavely, Tyler Louis; Todd, JanAs video games have increased in complexity from simple arcade machines to modern home consoles, the potential for skill development and competition have increased simultaneously. The result has been an eSport system that utilizes digital technology to provide gamers with a platform for intense competition capable of generating spectator appeal. The modern eSport market contains the three sectors of the traditional sport market capable of supporting recreational gamers, spectator sport events, and a large peripheral accessory market. This report draws a comparison between the digital and traditional sport system while summarizing the general development of video games into a viable platform for competition. It notes the initial development of modern professional gaming in South Korea, and analyzes the current state of eSports in North America by reviewing Major League Gaming and their techniques for advancing the eSport system. The report concludes with a discussion of threats to the eSport industry as it continues to gain relevancy in the Western hemisphere.Item Implications of Relative Ant Abundance and Diversity for the Management of Solenopsis Invicta Buren with Broadcast Baits(2009-05-15) Calixto, Alejandro AntonioHigher densities of S. invicta in the United States relative to South America are explained mainly by the absence of natural enemies and low interspecific competition (IC). Despite advances in S. invicta management, broadcast insecticide baits remain as the primary tool for effective control. I studied interspecific interactions of ants and the use of baits on the management of S. invicta to test the following hypotheses: 1) relative abundance of native ants increases ~25% for bait treated sites compared to untreated, 2) behavioral dominance by S. invicta decreases ~10% in bait treated sites compared to untreated, and, 3) foraging by S. invicta on insecticide baits is higher ~10% in low native ant densities areas compared to high densities. Experiments were conducted on three sites with different densities of native ants (low, medium, high), but with similar densities of S. invicta. An enhanced BACI (Before/After-Control/Impact) design was used. Experimental units consisted of 0.4 ha plots. Three treatments were randomly assigned to units and replicated four times; 1) Slow acting bait, 2) Fast acting bait, 3) Untreated Control. Samples and observations were collected for several weeks before/after the treatments to account for temporal variation and to determine rates of reinvasion. Ants were monitored using pitfalls and food lures. Interspecific competition was determined by applying placebo bait. Results indicate that different management methods did not impact resident ants when they are at low and medium densities and that S. invicta is greatly affected; at high native ant density, competition for these baits is observed affecting both natives and S. invicta. Reinvasion of S. invicta was reduced in areas of low and medium native ant densities previously treated with baits and native ant abundance increased by ~25%. At high native ant densities, reinvasion of S. invicta was similar to Control sites. I conclude: 1) properly used, baits can help in recovery of native ant species that then compete with S. invicta; however, rote re-treatments may have a negative impact on restored populations. 2) ?bait failures? may be due to interspecific competition when initial native ant densities are high. Preliminary management considerations and recommendations are presented.Item Income and occupation dynamics in the globalization era: a case study in Chia-Yi County, Taiwan(Texas Tech University, 2001-08) Jiang, TingAfter the industrial era, the United States and other economically advanced countries have gradually shifted to the so-called "information society." In this new society, services industries increasingly displaced manufacturing as sources of wealth creation. The role of information became pervasive and mental labor tended to replace physical labor as the dominant economic activities (Fukuyama, 1999). With the rise of the "information age" (Castells, 1996) and the coming of the prevailing "accelerated globalization" (Mittelman, 2000), profound changes took place in the former economic, political, and culture spheres of these societies. "Accelerated globalization," is rooted in the development of liberal economy, and informational technologies. The information technologies mainly refer to computermediated communication infrastructure, the digitalization technology, and the electronic network, typically represented by the Internet. With its frenzied e-speed, globalization profoundly affects the network of social institutions on which societies are based: family, community, and state (OECD, 1997). Many important structural aspects are redefined under this catalyst, for example, organization-structures, industrial work relationships, occupations, urban problems, etc.Item Issues in operations management and marketing interface research : competition, product line design, and channel coordination(2010-05) Chen, Liwen, 1974-; Gilbert, Stephen M.; Gutierrez, Genaro J.; Balakrishnan, Anant; Feng, Qi; Xia, YusenThis dissertation studies important issues in supply chain management and marketing interface research: competition, product line design, and channel efficiency, at the presence of vertically differentiated products. Vertical differentiation as a means of price discrimination has been well-studied in both economics and marketing literature. However, less attention has been paid on how vertical differentiation has been operationalized. In this dissertation, we focus our study on two types of vertical differentiation: the one created by a product line which is produced by the same firm, and the one created by products from different firms. We especially are interested in the so-called private label products vs. the national brand products. Specifically, this dissertation explores how vertical differentiation can affect the interactions among the members of a supply chain in several different contexts. In the first piece of work, we use a game theoretic model to explore how the ability of a retailer to introduce a private label product affects its interaction with a manufacturer of a national brand. In the second essay, we are investigating how an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) will be affected by the entry of a competitor when there are strategic suppliers of a critical component. If these suppliers behave strategically, it is not clear that the entry of other players will necessarily be harmful to the incumbent. In the last work, we pay our attention to an emerging change happening in the industry: some retailers begin to sell their private labels through their competitors. We investigate the strategic role of a retailer selling her own private label products through another retailer. In summary, this dissertation illustrates how vertical differentiation play a crucial role in firms' supply chain as well as marketing strategies. Therefore, it is important for firms to recognize these strategic issues related to vertically differentiated products while making operations/marketing decisions.Item Possible effects of the Robinson-Patman Act(Texas Tech University, 1937-08) D'Spain, LallaNot availableItem Predictors of eating disorders in college-aged women : the role of competition and relational aggression(2012-08) Scaringi, Vanessa; Rochlen, Aaron B.; Rude, Stephanie S.; Whittaker, Tiffany; Awad, Germine H.; Denoma, Jill H.The serious consequences and high prevalence rates of eating disorders among women have been well documented (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Birmingham, Su, Hlynasky, Goldner, & Gao, 2005; Crow, Praus, & Thuras, 1999; Steinhausen, 2009). Factors linked to the development of an eating disorder include competitiveness and group membership (Basow, Foran ,& Bookwala, 2007; Striegel-Moore, Silberstein, Grunberg, & Rodin, 1990). The purpose of this study was to further examine risk factors associated with eating disorder symptomatology by examining the role of sorority membership, different forms of competition, and relational aggression. Sorority membership was hypothesized to impact a participant’s eating disorder symptomatology, competitiveness, and relational aggression. Additionally, this study looked at three different forms of competition (Hypercompetition, Female Competition for mates, and Female Competition for status) and sought to understand which form of competitiveness best predicts eating disorder symptomatology. Female Competition for mates was hypothesized to best predict disordered eating. Lastly, relational aggression was expected to moderate the relationship between competition among women and eating disorder behaviors. An increase in relational aggression was hypothesized to strengthen the relationship between competition among women and eating disorder symptomatology. The reasoning for this relationship was based on an evolutionary framework that proposes aggression is needed to drive competition (Shuster, 1983). Participants included 407 undergraduate women, with a split of 211 sorority members and 196 non-sorority women. Measures included four subscales from the Eating Disorder Inventory (Garner et al., 1983), the Hypercompetitive Attitudes Scale (Ryckman et al., 1996), the Female Competition for mates scale, the Female Competition for status scale (Faer et al., 2005), and the Indirect Aggression Scale (Forrest et al., 2005). Separate regression analyses were conducted to answer each research question. Participants also answered qualitative questions after completing the surveys. Analyses revealed sorority membership significantly predicted a participant’s Female Competition for status. Female Competition for mates was found to best predict both body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness such that the higher a participant’s competition for mates score, the lower these eating disorder symptoms. No moderating effects of relational aggression were found in the model. Additionally, social desirability was included in the regressions as a means of controlling for a participant’s tendency to self-report desirably. An important surprise finding was that social desirability was a significant predictor of eating disorder symptomatology, competition, and relational aggression. Exploratory qualitative analyses suggested women’s acceptance of their bodies, while their conversations with friends included self-deprecating ways of discussing their appearance. Findings also suggest sorority membership predicts higher female competition for mates and status. Results reveal a relationship between competition and disordered eating which suggests important considerations for clinicians to explore with clients who may experience eating disorder symptomatology.Item Selling strategy under capacity constraint in perishable good markets(2006) Wu, Ruhai; Whinston, Andrew B.; Stinchcombe, MaxwellThis dissertation studies the monopoly seller’s optimal selling strategy under a capacity constraint in perishable good markets. The three chapters focus on the resale market, channel competition and rationing phenomena respectively. Chapter one studies ticket resale using a two-period model where a monopoly seller sells tickets in both periods. Three scenarios of resale are considered, namely no resale, where resale is infeasible in both periods; complete resale, where resale in feasible in both periods; and partial resale, where resale is feasible in the advance period but not in the spot period. The essay shows that, if the seller has limited capacity, the number of high-valuation buyers is small enough and the number of early arrivers is not too large, partial resale can lead to a higher profit for the seller than complete resale or no resale. Chapter two studies the symbiotic competition relationship between a supplier and an independent reseller, in which while the supplier relies upon the reseller in distribution, the supplier’s direct channel inevitably competes with the reseller’s channel. The essay compares two mechanisms that the supplier can use to control the potential channel competitions, i.e. the low-price guarantee and the capacity control mechanism. The essay illustrates the drawbacks of the widely-adopted low-price guarantee mechanism, and shows how the capacity control mechanism can avoid the potential channel conflicts and increase the supplier’s profit. Chapter three provides a theory of rationing, where rationing functions as an effective mechanism for second degree price discrimination. Rationing in the lower price market segment forces buyers with high valuations to buy at the higher price. Rationing’s impact on the seller’s profit depends on the shape of the demand curve and on the sellers’ capacity constraint. The essay presents the necessary conditions and sufficient conditions on the demand curve and capacity constraint for rationing to be beneficial to the seller. The essay further shows that rationing can help the seller through different discrimination strategies.Item Soil microbial community structure and allocation are critical drivers of ecosystem functioning(2015-08) Averill, Colin; Hawkes, Christine V.; Bennett, Phillip; Juenger, Thomas; Keitt, Timothy; Leibold, MathewThe functioning of terrestrial ecosystems is entirely dependent on the activity of autotrophic primary producers and microbial decomposers, and how they are affected by climate, mineralogy and anthropogenic change. Ecosystem ecology has classically focused on how allocation and community composition of plant primary producers may alter predictions of future ecosystem functioning in the face of environmental change. Little attention has been paid to allocation and community composition of microbial decomposers. The functioning of microbial decomposers has been considered implicitly, in the context of plant traits; primarily plant biomass chemistry. However, soil microbial communities represent a vast diversity of taxa spanning multiple kingdoms of life and an array of functional groups. It is not only likely, but probable that understanding ecological aspects of soil microbial community structure, activity, and allocation will fundamentally change how we understand and predict ecosystem function in the future. In chapters 1-3 of this dissertation, I explicitly considered how microbial activities varied based on microbial community structure and the resulting impacts for biogeochemical cycling. Specifically, in chapters 1 and 2, I manipulated the relative abundance of symbiotic root fungi to demonstrate that competition between symbionts and free-living decomposers for nitrogen slowed soil carbon cycling. In chapter 3, I scaled how nitrogen is partitioned between plants, mycorrhizas and free-living decomposer microbes to demonstrate how shifts in microbial community structure could explain how forests productivity is sustained over centuries. In chapter 4, I developed a microbial allocation framework that explicitly considers microbial resource environments. I demonstrated that past microbial allocation frameworks based on plant ecological mechanisms cannot explain allocation patterns of decomposer microbial life. Throughout this dissertation I attempt to put soil microbial life in an explicit ecological context that challenges current understanding of ecosystem process and will allow for deeper understanding and prediction of ecosystem functioning. Incorporating microbial community structure, allocation, and simple ecological mechanisms into models will improve the predictive power of ecosystem ecology.Item The Tao of coopetition in organizations: culture and categorization of competitive behaviors in teams and working relationships(2009-05) Keller, Josh Wheatly; Huber, George P.; Loewenstein, JeffreyThis dissertation provides a cultural-cognitive perspective on the relationship between cooperation and competition within organizations. Instead of explicitly defining the relationship between cooperation and competition, I examine lay beliefs about the relationship and the impact of these beliefs on perceptions and behavior. This dissertation consists of two studies. In the first study, I examine the role of peoples’ categorization of competitive behaviors as cooperative or non-cooperative in teams. I assess the influence of dialectical reasoning, a culturally-shaped reasoning style, on the categorization of competitive behaviors and the reaction to competitive behaviors within teams. I test my predictions with a laboratory experiment with participants in the US and China. The analyses from this study reveal cultural differences in perceptual and behavioral reactions to competitive behaviors, with differences partially attributed to reasoning style and categorization. In the second study, I examine the role of people’s categorization of competitive behaviors as cooperative or non-cooperative in working relationships. I assess the influence of culture and categorization on people’s ego-centric network of working relationships. I test my predictions with a survey of working professionals in the US and China. The analyses from this study demonstrate that people who categorize certain competitive behaviors as cooperative are more likely to be more cooperative with people they are more competitive with instead of having exclusively cooperative or competitive relationships. The analyses also reveal national cultural differences in people’s networks of working relationships that are partially attributable to categorization of competitive behaviors. By empirically connecting culture and reasoning style to cooperative and competitive behavior in teams and working relationships, this research enhances our understanding of fundamental aspects of organizations, suggesting a new approach to examining the influence of societal factors in behavior within organizations.Item The Effects of Multi-Dimensional Competition on Education Market Outcomes(2012-10-19) Karakaplan, MustafaIn this dissertation, I analyze the effects of competition in education markets. In my first essay, I analyze the effects of different concentration measures on school personnel salaries. I find evidence that principals have more bargaining power over their salaries than teachers in Washington that through rent-sharing, principals start getting positive returns from increasing concentration at lower levels of concentration than that of teachers. Moreover, I present that the pattern of teacher salaries versus concentration in Washington is similar to that in Texas, but the inflection point in Washington is at substantially lower levels of concentration-a finding which can be attributed to Washington's being a union state versus Texas's being a right-to-work-state. In my second essay, I examine the effects of various measures of competition on school district cost inefficiency in a stochastic frontier framework. My results show that cost frontier is U-shaped in Texas with large positive returns to the scale over a relatively big range and mild diseconomies of scale over an extended range. In addition, I find that school district cost inefficiency increases significantly when market concentration increases. Furthermore, I present the competitive effect/scale effect trade-off through a couple of simulation exercises. The findings from both of my studies show that the effects of competition are barely sensitive to measuring the competition with different sets of relevant competitors. On the other hand, sensitivity of the effects of competition to using different definitions of the education markets is significant. Yet, the range of these estimated effects is relatively small, and the sign and the significance of the effect of competition generally do not change when a meaningful definition of education markets is employed to measure concentration. Furthermore, I present that the concentration measures employed in my essays are endogenous. I control for the endogeneity with several instrumental variables including degrees of lagged educational outputs in the neighboring schools, lagged education market characteristics, and counts of streams. My results imply that the hypothesized effects of competition may be underestimated due to the endogeneity. While the plausibility of competitive effect's being underestimated bolsters the importance of the competitive effects I find, it also strengthens my criticism of using uni-dimensional concentration indices as indicators of competition in the education markets.