Real options for a small company in a context of market concentration: A case study of investment in a turbot farming plant in Spain

Abstract

The Spanish turbot aquaculture sector, the largest in Europe, presents a downward trend in the number of companies that compose it, being especially affected the small companies. The reasons behind this process are mainly due to the incompleteness of its institutional framework. The lack of effective regulation, the insecurity of property rights, the lack of consensus among agents competing for coastal use and the unequal allocation of public resources through subsidies have resulted in a process of concentration that has consolidated the dominance of large companies. As a result of this process, in 2021, the sector is composed of only four companies: two small companies and two large companies. The objective of this article is to provide a valuation framework where the real options methodology is applied to one of the small companies in the market to determine its abandonment possibilities. The results obtained show that the abandon option achieves a significant value, constituting a valid option for decision-makers.