Competition over the past couple decades is less and less of a factor for private companies, however[1].

[1] https://hbr.org/2018/03/is-lack-of-competition-strangling-th...

The harder it is to create a startup in an area, the less competition you’ll have there. Things like regulation and labor protection laws have the unfortunate side effect of discouraging founders to embark in the "startup adventure".