RESULT OBTAINED
Decision concept
Entry barriers: measuring the real cost of market access
What must be established
A useful analysis keeps its controls visible.
- 01
Distinguish temporary obstacle, recurring cost and structural impossibility.
- 02
Measure the lead time, capital, capabilities and dependencies required.
- 03
Assess the likely reactions of the incumbents.
Decision reference
Make the next choice more explicit.
DECISION SUPPORTED
Which obstacles slow down, raise the cost of or prevent a credible entry?
DELIVERABLE TO KEEP
A map of the barriers, of the ways to clear them and of the evidence still needed.
NEXT ELEMENT TO EXAMINE
AttractivenessExplore →Describe the barrier in a decision unit
A useful barrier is not a label such as regulation or technology. It specifies the requirement, the actor who controls it, the initial cost, the recurring cost, the lead time, the probability of obtaining it and the dependencies. The same obstacle can be decisive for one option and secondary for another.
- Requirement and holder
- Initial and recurring cost
- Irreducible lead time
- Option concerned
Assess without manufacturing a verdict
The interactive score is a teaching example based on simulated values. In a real decision dossier, no aggregate score should offset a regulatory impossibility, unavailable capital or a dependency without substitute. These conditions become blocking eligibility criteria before any weighted comparison.
- Non-compensatory blockers
- Simulated values
- Adjacent evidence
- Workaround alternative
Compare overcoming, partnering and renouncing
For each barrier, compare building the capability, acquiring it, partnering, changing the scope or renouncing. The decision is reviewed if the cost or the lead time exceeds the set limit, if an authorisation becomes unlikely, if a substitute appears or if the competitive reaction invalidates the entry economics.
- Build
- Acquire
- Partner
- Renounce or defer
21 · ORIGINAL ASSET
Entry burden index
Calculation method
The score weights five obstacles, then converts them into the lead time, capital and evidence needed to clear them.
Teaching case · simulated data · no real-world market conclusion.
Resources
Reuse the method and verify its foundations.
- OECD, Competition Assessment Toolkit, volume 2 (opens in a new tab)Operational definition and official guide for examining the extent of entry barriers.
- Harvard Business School, The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy (opens in a new tab)Institutional reference linking new entrants, industry structure and pressure on profitability.
MOVE FROM ANALYSIS TO YOUR DECISION
Compare my markets using explicit criteria
MOVE FROM ANALYSIS TO YOUR DECISION
Compare my markets using explicit criteria
RETURN TO THE DECISION SYSTEM
See the canonical definition of marketing strategy→