Competition

Competition is the result of several companies offering the same or similar products or services. When this occurs, those products or services are offered for sale at low prices.

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Jan Büchel / Christian Rusche ·
IW-Policy Paper Nr. 26 ·
7 December 2020

Competition in the digital Economy: An analysis of Gatekeepers and Regulations

The Digital Age saw the rise of several rapidly growing digital platforms with substantial market shares. Europe is a large target market for these globally operating platforms, although the majority of the most successful platforms come from the USA or Asia.

Michael Grömling in World Economics Journal ·
External Publication ·
18 May 2020

Measuring Modern Business Investment: A Case Study for Germany

An extended concept for intangible investment does not lead to additional investment momentum in the case of Germany. This corresponds to experiences with former extension of investments in national accounts.

Barbara Engels / Christian Rusche ·
IW-Report Nr. 33 ·
4 September 2019

Status quo and trends in e-commerce in Germany

However, e-commerce is not equally important in the individual product groups. Above all, food is still largely sold offline. In the near future, the importance of e-commerce is expected to increase further.

Hans-Peter Klös / David B. Meinhard ·
IW-Policy Paper Nr. 6 ·
27 August 2019

world of employment: Industrial competitiveness, digitisation and vocational training

The digital transformation in Germany's economy and society is in full swing. Not all of the indicators of Germany's technological performance show a pioneering role in digitization. The technological trends will therefore not remain without effects on the business models of companies operating in Germany.

EU Data Protection Regulation ·
IW News ·
16 December 2015

Too late, too general

After four years of negotiations, the EU has reached an agreement about the Data Protection Reform. It will replace a patchwork of 28 national regulations and strengthen user rights. But particularly the so-called right to data portability might eventually harm competition.

Vera Demary / Matthias Diermeier ·
IW-Trends Nr. 4 ·
26 November 2015

Mergers and Acquisitions in German Industry

Heading for Industry 4.0?

Competition Policy ·
IW News ·
1 June 2015

Going digital?

The internet profoundly changes business models and markets. Competition policy, however, has hardly changed. The German Monopolies Commission, an expert committee advising the German government and legislature on competition policy-making, now recommends adjusting the existing regulation. The question is: Is that even doable?

Companies

Companies are an important pillar of our economy because they create jobs, prosperity and growth. It is the task of politics to support companies in adapting to a changing environment - for example, to promote research and development.

Competition

Competition is the result of several companies offering the same or similar products or services. When this occurs, those products or services are offered for sale at low prices.

Perfect competition is not the only market structure, however. Other possible market structures feature few or only a single supplier, as in the case of a monopoly. The structure of the market and the behaviour of the market participants determine the market result.

The aim of competition policy is to promote competition and to prevent the abuse of market power. Digitization, in particular, has brought new market structures and thus also placed new demands on competition policy.