Robert C. Seamans

Robert C. Seamans

Business & Public Policy Ph. D Candidate
University of California, Berkeley
Haas School of Business

Welcome to my website! Please check back later for links to working papers.

My research focuses on strategic and structural barriers to entry. My main job market paper looks at strategic barriers to entry used by incumbent cable TV firms to deter entry by public and private entrants. This paper contributes to existing literature in two main ways. First, it shows that private incumbents act to deter entry by public, government-owned entities. In fact, within the context of the cable TV industry, incumbent firms upgrade faster when faced by potential public entry than potential private entry. Second, this paper shows that incumbent firms use technology upgrades as an entry deterring mechanism. This finding provides a link between innovation and entry deterrence not present in prior literature.

Another paper, coauthored with Aaron K. Chatterji, shows that credit card interest rates are a structural barrier to entry for certain types of entrepreneurs. This paper utilizes a quasi-natural experiment to show that credit cards are an important source of capital for African-American entrepreneurs. A third paper, coauthored with Oliver E. Williamson, shows that start up firms which are unable to access appropriate financing will suffer performance consequences.

Other work in development seeks to better understand how incumbent firms choose between different entry deterring mechanisms and whether technology can be used to deter new firm entry in other industries.

This page is not an official publication of the Haas School of Business. It has not been reviewed or approved by the Haas School of Business or the University of California, Berkeley. The page author is solely responsible for the contents of this page.