Herfindahl Index

What It Is:

The Herfindahl Index, also known as the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), measures the market concentration of an industry's 50 largest firms in order to determine if the industry is competitive or nearing monopoly.

How It Works/Example:

The Herfindahl Index formula is calculated by squaring the market share for each firm (up to 50 firms) and then summing the squares.

Here's an example:

Let's say there are four grocery stores in your town: Albert's, Bob's, Carl's and Donald's. Market share is broken down as follows:

Albert's:   50%
Bob's:      25%
Carl's:      15%
Donald's: 10%

HHI = 50² + 25² + 15² + 10² = 3,450

In a perfectly competitive market, HHI approaches zero. Let's say there are thousands of restaurants in your city, but the top 50 each have 0.1% of the market share. The HHI is 0.1² x 50 = 0.5.

In a monopoly, HHI approaches 10,000. If the one largest firm has 100% of the market share, HHI = 100² = 10,000.
 

Why It Matters:

Most analysts do some sort of industry analysis to understand where a particular company's source of growth and competitive advantage comes from, and competition structure is one of the main components of industry analysis. For example, if a company exists in a highly competitive industry, it will be more difficult for it to maintain above-average profit margins in the future, even if it has above-average profit margins today.

Furthermore, the Justice Department uses the Herfindahl Index to decide whether a merger is good for competition in the marketplace. A market with an HHI under 1,000 is considered competitive. The Justice Department is likely to scrutinize a merger in an industry with a post-merger HHI of between 1,000 and 1,800, and it is almost certain to outright reject approval for mergers that result in a post-merger HHI exceeding 1,800.