A dominant firm in the cloud-storage industry, EtherVault, experiences a change in its operating environment. Which of the following developments is most likely to increase EtherVault's monopoly power by raising the barriers to entry for potential competitors?
An industry-wide regulatory mandate establishing open-source data portability standards for all consumers
A technological breakthrough that significantly reduces the minimum efficient scale of data-center operations relative to total market demand
A substantial increase in the upfront, non-recoverable research and development (R&D) expenditure required to obtain security certification
An increase in the availability of venture capital funding specifically targeting early-stage infrastructure start-ups
