Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Agricultural Trade Journal Market in The Netherlands

Abstract

This article investigates how structure and conduct determine performance of the agricultural trade journal market in The Netherlands. It builds upon industrial organization theory and reviews relevant media market performance models. It shows how professional information prices and diversity follow from providers' strategic choices for lowest common denominator or product differentiation strategies. It attributes strategic choices to three underlying market structural characteristics, namely the balance between information and attention markets, concentration of information providers, and disintermediation. It concludes that prices and diversity, respectively, are determined by similar competitive relations but at different market levels.