c) firms sell differentiated products
d) Consumers may prefer one product over the other.
However, this market structure will no longer result in a socially optimal level of output, because the firms have more power and can influence market prices to a certain degree. An example of monopolistic competition is the market for cereals. There is a huge number of different brands (e.g. Cap’n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Froot Loops, and Apple Jacks). Most of them probably taste slightly different, but at the end of the day, they are all breakfast cereals.
iii) Oligopoly
Oligopoly is a market structure in which a small number of firms has the large majority of market share. An oligopoly is similar to a monopoly, except that rather than one firm, two or more firms dominate the market.
a) all firms maximize profits,
b) oligopolies can set prices,
c) there are barriers to entry and exit in the market,
d) products may be homogenous or differentiated,
e) there is only a few firms that dominate the market.
f) An oligopoly industry can appear as the result of a long competitive process.
Oligopoly industries often have a number of smaller firms in addition to the dominant firms. These small firms peripheral firms survive by selling product lines that are not profitable enough to gain the attention of the dominant firms. There is no precise upper limit to the number of firms in an oligopoly, but the number must be low enough that the actions of one firm significantly impact and
Monopolies in America during the late nineteenth century held various effects on the nation’s economy. They increased the amount of jobs for the struggling, provided necessary capital, and introduced new inventions that are still used today. On the other hand, monopolies continued the spread of corruption in enterprise. The creation of monopolies brought forth multiple benefits for the country. Rockefeller stated that with monopolies came expansion of business.
During America's Progressive Era, large monopolies controlled the industries in which they did business, increasing the economy and harming the people. Monopolies were a big thing during the progressive era. A monopoly is when one person or business owns a product that they can only sell and produce. For example, a big industry like oil used to be owned by the Rockefellers, and they were the only ones who could sell oil in America. According to the Newsela article "Entrepreneurs: John D. Rockefeller," "Standard Oil continued to spread."
In a country, government who plays the role as the sole provider of certain product or service can be defined as government monopoly which is a form of coercive monopoly. Canada is a country that implements monopoly in their market structure. There are several monopolies in Canada such as electricity, water supplies, nuclear companies, and railways. The electricity supply in Canada is mainly under provincial jurisdiction.
Corruption was prevalent in the United States during the 1900s. Fraud existed in major industries, such as monopolies or unsafe working conditions. Several people wanting reform wrote books and articles about the industries which made a large impact on the consumers and users of industries. This put pressure on the president to make changes in regulating these industries. Muckrakers, a group of journalists, exposed corrupt issues to the American public, which brought reform to many major industries such as oil, railroads, and government.
During the Progressive Era, many reforms were made in the attempt to fix the negative facets of America (Fagnilli 27). Progressives were reformers who supported ideas that attempted to make a change in society’s problems, such as corruption of government, women’s suffrage, and accessibility of education (The Progressive Era). These reformers lived mostly in urban areas, and therefore witnessed these issues first-hand, thus they believed that country could be mended by the government if it took responsibility for ensuring safe work conditions and environment, and education (The Progressive Era). Crucial to change in America, issues that were targeted by reforms had both positive and negative impacts, which indisputably changed America.
At the beginning of the Progressive Era there were many issues involving the unregulated businesses. Most of the problems involved safety issues that severely injured many workers, but it also involved business created monopolies to maximize their profits which affected the consumers because there was not a competitive price. This is why the American Government should be able to put regulations and laws in place to restrict businesses from unfair treatment of their workers health and safety; also, to limit the possibility of monopolies occurring to protect the consumers of the products. Many businesses now follow these laws and regulations put in place by our government which makes the story of how America was built one of progress not regresion.
Monopolies would coordinate with other businesses to set prices and to set policies. One example is the railroad monopoly. Cornelius Vanderbilt controlled several railroad companies and soared into wealth. With a monopoly over the railroads, he was able to cut out the middle man by reducing the power of the individual managers. John D. Rockefeller also controlled a monopoly only his was in oil.
Web. 17 Nov. 2015. Some of these companies were monopolies. Monopolies were the business that tried to all control over their product so then they could price it at any price they wanted.
During the Progressive Era there were multiple of changes occurring that people became overwhelmed. New resources in the oil market, industrialization, fights for equality. There were many factory jobs, however, no one to stand up for the workers. So of course people will turn to their government for help, the power house of the country. However, even the government was picky in what they helped with.
Market Structure - Oligopoly Oligopoly is a market structure whereby a few number of firms owns a lion’s share in the market. This market structure is similar to monopoly, except that instead of one firm, two or more firms have control in the market. In an oligopoly, there are no upper limits to the number of firms, but the number must be nadir enough that the operations of one firm remarkably influence and affects the others (Investopedia, 2003). The Walt Disney Company is categorized under an oligopoly market structure.
Q1a. MARKET STRUCTURE OF APPLE INC Apple Inc. operates different types of market structure in terms of their different products. In the smart phone business, they happen to be one of the major players with their different models of the “iphone” which makes them operate in an oligopolistic market. Oligopoly arises when there is an imperfect competition in which there are just few firms producing similar products. As a result of high competition, monopolies, interdependence among firms there are just a few big players having the market power and making it very difficult for new firms to penetrate the market with their products.
The oligopoly market is set up in a way so that competitors can survive because each is unique and there are so few competitors that they are virtually indispensable even if some ethics atrocity
Market structures describe the competitive environment in which a firm operates. The characteristics of the market structure will have a major-influence on the competitive strategies and tactics that are implemented by firms. (Octotutor, 2014). For the purpose of this analysis, I have chosen to analyze the Coco-Cola Company, which operates in an oligopoly. This type of market has many implications for both consumers and competing firms.
Hence we assume this to be a situation of duopoly. The 2 companies sell products which are very close substitutes and are constantly fighting for greater market share. A person may buy a Coke product instead of a Pepsi one, and vice versa. The objective of both is to maximize their profit.
They are differentiated by their products such as soft drinks and soap powder. There also exist little firms who produce similar products such as petrol. However, in oligopoly, there are barriers to enter the market. Similar to monopoly, the barriers are no different, and it differs from one industry to the other. This is why the firms in oligopoly are interdependent with each other, because the firms all have large market shares and each of their actions would affect the rest, so any decision-making will be based on their competitors’ reactions.