Aluminum Industry in 1994

Slade’s competitive market is metal product market. It can be analyzed with the Porter’s Five Forces Model: risk of entry by potential competitors, rivalry among established companies, the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and threat of

Economic sanctions are when trading with a certain country is restricted or results in penalties. “Commonwealth of Nation overcomes UK objections, adopts sanctions package similar to that adopted by US, EC. Commonwealth package also includes ban on government loans to South African government, threatens increased sanctions if progress on dismantling apartheid is not made within six months.” (Document H: Page 35). This quote describes the steps taken by countries to prevent apartheid from continuing in South Africa. By not trading with South Africa, they are making sure South Africa gets less money which will encourage them to end apartheid so that they can continue making money. Another example of external pressure that contributed to the fall of apartheid are sports. “Sport has long been an important part of life in South Africa, and the boycotting of games by international teams had a profound effect on the white population, perhaps more so than the trade embargoes did.” (External: Stations Document). The majority of people in South Africa believed that sports games were a great source of entertainment and allowed them to have pride in their country- however, when international teams no longer wanted anything to do with South Africa because of the apartheid, the effects were

In assessing the market structure in which General Motors is operating in, I will outline the central assumptions and resulting implications of the oligopolistic market structure. I will study both the current competitive behavior of General Motors, as well as sales and cost statistics to determine whether they correspond to the characteristics of firms operating in an oligopoly. I will also examine the

Refer to the diagram. If price is reduced from P1 to P2, total revenue will:

Industry Growth………………………………………….10 Concentration………………………………………….….10 Differentiation and Switching costs……………………13 Scale Economies and Fixed/Variable Costs…………..13 Excess Capacity and Exit Barriers………………………14

Chief exports: corn, diamonds, fruits, gold, metals, minerals, sugar, wool, machinery and transportation equipment, chemicals, manufactured goods, and petroleum

The competition of mining industry is medium to high. One major competition for mining industry is the competition for resources and mines, which is different from other industries. Since the resources are limited and unrenewable, together with the continues increasing demand for energy, such as coal demand of China and India, the battle of exploiting and developing new mines are intensive. Also, there are many competitors in the industry. However, since the exit barriers are high, the competition is limited within the existing companies. Companies in the industry might battle for larger market share but facing little threat of new entries. Thus, the competition in the industry is concluded as medium to high.

Markets differ in a variety of ways including the degree of concentration and competitiveness, a fact which is reflected in the concept of ‘market structure’. Economists’ models link the structural characteristics of a market to the behaviour of firms in that market and subsequently to their performance. A key question therefore is how far a firm’s strategic decisions are shaped by the structure of the market in which it operates.

(Boyd, 2000) Another trend is the growing demand for scrap metal. In 1994 prices jumped from 50-170$ per ton with 10 percent of scrap metal being exported to offshore customers according to metalprices.com. Now currently scrap metal is near $300/ton. This makes it more expensive for steel companies like Nucor to buy back the steel and recycle it.

Perfect competition is an idealised market structure theory used in economics to show the market under a high degree of competition given certain conditions. This essay aims to outline the assumptions and distinctive features that form the perfectly competitive model and how this model can be used to explain short term and long term behaviour of a perfectly competitive firm aiming to maximise profits and the implications of enhancing these profits further.

Since there are so many producers in a perfect competition market, consumers are able to be price makers and there is ample opportunity for firms to compete for their business. Consider the below graph depicting the natural efficient price equilibrium and the firm’s optimal output in the short run. The market may demand a quantity of a product where the usual efficient market would consume at the marginal revenue= marginal cost (MR=MC)

Where does aluminum come from; how is it made, discuss the history of aluminum and how it compares to other material. When did the use or application of aluminum become popular? Explain the circumstances or preceding events associated with popularity.

• Aluminum smelting is a perfectly competitive industry: 157 smelters worldwide in 1993 • Traded at London Metal Exchange (LME) • Price in 1988 over $2,500 per ton • Price at beginning of 1994 about $1,100 per ton • Mainly due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting flood of aluminum into the world markets by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Within the realm of industrial economics, a central focus is on equilibrium in oligopoly models, and the questions arise of how the firms would find the equilibrium and whether they will choose it. The efforts of this essay are devoted to a discussion of Cournot and Bertrand models of competition, two fundamental single-period models that form the basis for multi-period models (Friedman, 1977). Firstly the essay will give an introduction to the properties of the Cournot and Bertrand models of competition and examine their implications to the relationship between structure and performance. Then it will

The industry structure analysis of the metal can industry mainly depends on the assessment of the five competitive forces which shapes the industry which is following: