Neil Gandal (Tel Aviv University, UC-Berkeley, & CEPR)
Abstract
Search engines hold the key to helping consumers access the wealth of information on the web. In this paper I examine the evolution of and competition in the internet search engine market. The goal of my analysis is to examine whether early entrants benefit in the long-run from their first-mover position in internet markets. I find that while early entrants (Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, Infoseek, and Altavista) still have an advantage, the pure "brand effect" advantage has been declining over time. Yahoo has maintained its leadership position by providing a superior product. The success of a wave of recent new entrants suggests that entry barriers are still quite low in the internet search engine market.
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Microeconomics with number
0012003.
Length: 20 pages Date of creation: 09 Feb 2001 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpmi:0012003
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
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