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Are Sunk Costs A Barrier To Entry?

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  • Luis M.B. Cabral
  • Thomas Ross

Abstract

The received wisdom is that sunk costs create a barrier to entry— if entry fails, then the entrant, unable to recover sunk costs, incurs greater losses. In a strategic context where an incumbent may prey on the entrant, sunk entry costs have a countervailing effect: they may effectively commit the entrant to stay in the market. By providing the entrant with commitment power, sunk investments may soften the reactions of incumbents. The net effect may imply that entry is more profitable when sunk costs are greater.
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Suggested Citation

  • Luis M.B. Cabral & Thomas Ross, 2006. "Are Sunk Costs A Barrier To Entry?," Working Papers 06-09, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ste:nystbu:06-09
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Orea, Luis, 2009. "Legal and political barriers to entry in the Spanish retail market: a frontier approach," Efficiency Series Papers 2009/03, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    3. Dannenbaum, Judith & Edinger-Schons, Laura Marie & Rese, Mario & Plötner, Olaf & Wieseke, Jan, 2020. "What Does it Take to Successfully Implement a Hybrid Offering Strategy? A Contingency Perspective," SMR - Journal of Service Management Research, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 4(2-3), pages 100-120.
    4. Cong, Rong-Gang & Caro, Dario & Thomsen, Marianne, 2017. "Is it beneficial to use biogas in the Danish transport sector?–An environmental-economic analysis," MPRA Paper 112291, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald, 2008. "A tale of two countries: unions, closures and growth in Britain and Norway," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19589, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. F. Di Iorio & M. Letizia Giorgetti, 2020. "Launch of a product and patents: evidence from the US cardiovascular pharmaceutical sector," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(7), pages 789-803, August.
    7. Ioannis Kessides & Li Tang, 2010. "Sunk Costs, Market Contestability, and the Size Distribution of Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 37(3), pages 215-236, November.
    8. Gianni Amisano & Maria Letizia Giorgetti, 2013. "Entry Into Pharmaceutical Submarkets: A Bayesian Panel Probit Analysis," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 667-701, June.
    9. Maria Letizia GIORGETTI & Maria Luisa MANCUSI, 2016. "Entry and Patenting in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Departmental Working Papers 2016-02, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    10. Hattori, Keisuke & Yamada, Mai, 2020. "Welfare Implications of Sequential Entry with Heterogeneous Firms," MPRA Paper 103422, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Robert S. Pindyck, 2009. "Sunk Costs and Risk-Based Barriers to Entry," NBER Working Papers 14755, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Elliott, Robert & Sun, Puyang & Zhu, Tong, 2019. "Electricity prices and industry switching: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 567-588.
    13. Orea, Luis, 2009. "Entry efficiency and barriers to entry in the Spanish retail market," Efficiency Series Papers 2009/02, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    14. Nishant Chadha & Viswanath Pingali & Daniel Sokol, 2023. "Small Businesses and Digital Platforms," IIMA Working Papers WP 2023-09-01, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    15. Ilkka Leppänen, 2020. "Partial commitment in an endogenous timing duopoly," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 287(2), pages 783-799, April.
    16. Pannone, Andrea, 2010. "Production, unemployment and wage flexibility in an ICT-assisted economy: A model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 219-230, August.

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    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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