The various types of competition can be grouped as follows:

Pure monopoly: Only one company provides a certain product or service in an area (e.g. post office, local utility companies). It is a result of regulation, patent, license or economies of scale. Earnings are highly predictable since competition is almost nonexistent and the degree of regulation is very high.

Pure oligopoly: A few companies produce the same commodity (e.g. oil, steel). There is enough market share for every competitor. Profit margins will depend on the economic cycle and the cyclicality of industries.

Differentiated oligopoly: A few companies produce partially differentiated products (e.g. cars, computers). The differentiation occurs along lines of quality, features, styling or services. Here it is important to evaluate the different business models of the companies. Profit margins will vary across different industries and companies.

Monopolistic competition: This industry consists of many competitors able to differentiate their products and services (e.g. food, beverage).

Pure competition: Many competitors offer the same product and service (e.g. commodity market). The degree of product differentiation gives an estimate about the margin structure of an industry. Alow product differentiation is accompanied by an intense price competition which results in low profit margins.

Corporate bond investors should target industries with a balanced business risk and financial risk profile. In mature industries cash flows become increasingly predictable and capital expenditures of companies tend to stabilize.

In such an industry the task is to select those companies who succeeded in controlling their cost structures and operate at efficient levels.

Those sectors will show a stable credit trend. Structural changes might push a whole industry into a declining stage. Companies out of those industries will experience structural losses, hence their credit metrics will deteriorate. Management will have no options available to stop this trend. In a next step the competitive environment of an industry has to be analyzed.

The 5-Forces diagram by Michael E. Porter summarizes best the interaction of an industry with its economic environment. An understanding of those relationships is essential for the projection of credit trends in a sector. The competitive environment determines profit margins and the pricing power of companies.

For a fixed income investor the best investments will be in sectors whose life cycle is in stages 3 and 4. Stage 1 is characterized by high business and financial risk. The rewards can be substantial but fatal losses can occur as well. The traditional financing sources for early stage industries are venture capital, private equity followed by the equity market. In stage 2 an industry will experience accelerating growth in sales and profits, but it can be assumed that all generated funds will be reinvested to grow the business, and financial discipline will not be a priority to management. Bondholder unfriendly corporate actions across the industry will increase the downside potential for corporate bond investors.