Market Definition and Market Power in Big Data
(2019) JAEM03 20191Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- There is still heated debate on the issue of big data and its implications for competition policy. While many scholars argue that data can have serious implications which need to be addressed, others disagree, claiming data in fact has little to no impact on competition law.
The purpose of this thesis is to research and analyse big data’s implications for the standard competition law assessment when it comes to market definition and the assessment of market power.
There are two main issues which this thesis will attempt to address. Firstly, there is the question of how the relevant market should be defined in big data markets and whether data should be considered a separate relevant market, and secondly, whether data can be a source of... (More) - There is still heated debate on the issue of big data and its implications for competition policy. While many scholars argue that data can have serious implications which need to be addressed, others disagree, claiming data in fact has little to no impact on competition law.
The purpose of this thesis is to research and analyse big data’s implications for the standard competition law assessment when it comes to market definition and the assessment of market power.
There are two main issues which this thesis will attempt to address. Firstly, there is the question of how the relevant market should be defined in big data markets and whether data should be considered a separate relevant market, and secondly, whether data can be a source of dominance and what should be the focus of competition authorities in the market power assessment.
To answer these questions, the thesis will first provide an overview of the concept of big data and its most important features before discussing the general principles of market definition and market power assessment and the challenges imposed for the standard competition assessment by big data.
The thesis then examines the current decisional practice by the Commission in big data related cases with the aim to shed a light on the current approach taken by competition authorities when it comes to assessing big data markets, which will be relevant for the following chapters.
Next, the focus will turn to the current assessment of market definition in big data. The analysis find that the Commission’s current approach focuses on defining big data markets based on their functionalities and the end products and services. It will be argued that a different approach could be taken to better reflect the realities of big data markets, by adopting an approach of defining a separate relevant market for data.
Finally, the thesis will discuss the assessment of market power in big data. Data’s relevance as a source of dominance will be examined, where several factors are identified where data can have an effect on an undertaking’s overall market power. Regarding the overall assessment of market power, it is argued that the assessment should rather focus on potential competition, in line with the Commission’s current focus, as identified in the decisional practice.
The thesis concludes that in order to better address the competition challenges imposed by big data, a separate market should be defined for data, whilst the market power assessment should focus on potential competitive restraints. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8995395
- author
- Kristjánsson, Baldvin LU
- supervisor
-
- Ana Nordberg LU
- organization
- course
- JAEM03 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 8995395
- date added to LUP
- 2019-09-19 15:16:58
- date last changed
- 2019-09-19 15:16:58
@misc{8995395,
abstract = {{There is still heated debate on the issue of big data and its implications for competition policy. While many scholars argue that data can have serious implications which need to be addressed, others disagree, claiming data in fact has little to no impact on competition law.
The purpose of this thesis is to research and analyse big data’s implications for the standard competition law assessment when it comes to market definition and the assessment of market power.
There are two main issues which this thesis will attempt to address. Firstly, there is the question of how the relevant market should be defined in big data markets and whether data should be considered a separate relevant market, and secondly, whether data can be a source of dominance and what should be the focus of competition authorities in the market power assessment.
To answer these questions, the thesis will first provide an overview of the concept of big data and its most important features before discussing the general principles of market definition and market power assessment and the challenges imposed for the standard competition assessment by big data.
The thesis then examines the current decisional practice by the Commission in big data related cases with the aim to shed a light on the current approach taken by competition authorities when it comes to assessing big data markets, which will be relevant for the following chapters.
Next, the focus will turn to the current assessment of market definition in big data. The analysis find that the Commission’s current approach focuses on defining big data markets based on their functionalities and the end products and services. It will be argued that a different approach could be taken to better reflect the realities of big data markets, by adopting an approach of defining a separate relevant market for data.
Finally, the thesis will discuss the assessment of market power in big data. Data’s relevance as a source of dominance will be examined, where several factors are identified where data can have an effect on an undertaking’s overall market power. Regarding the overall assessment of market power, it is argued that the assessment should rather focus on potential competition, in line with the Commission’s current focus, as identified in the decisional practice.
The thesis concludes that in order to better address the competition challenges imposed by big data, a separate market should be defined for data, whilst the market power assessment should focus on potential competitive restraints.}},
author = {{Kristjánsson, Baldvin}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Market Definition and Market Power in Big Data}},
year = {{2019}},
}