Market Structures Determine Pricing and Output Decisions

Oligopolistic markets, such as supermarkets or car manufacturing, can be defined in terms of market structure or in terms of market conduct.

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

There are only a few firms that make up this industry and they have control over the price. These companies have high barriers to entry the market. The products they produce are similar which cause competition. There is both good and bad when it comes to oligopoly and monopolies. Some good things about oligopoly are by developing product innovations and taking advantage of economies of scale. With oligopoly it is more likely to expand production capabilities, promote economic growth, and they develop change that advances the level of technology ("Oligopoly," 2000). Some bad things about oligopoly is that they tend to be inefficient in the allocation of resources and promotes the concentration of income and wealth ("Oligopoly," 2000). They charge much higher prices and end up producing less of an output than the efficiency benchmark of perfect competition. One of the good forms is natural monopoly. Natural monopoly exists when economies of scale encourage production by a single producer (Mayer). An example of this is your local electrical utility. As a power plant increases, the cost per kilowatt hour of electricity falls (Mayer). If we were to all use small generators to run our homes the cost of each household would be ridiculous. The total fixed cost of generators for the community would be high and the variable cost of running it would also be high. Another form of monopoly that is good is

Huges, N. (2011). Schools expect to have more iPads than computers in next 5 years. Retrieved

Market structure is the physical characteristics of the market within which companies react. This means that there are different kinds of market structure based on how companies work together within a particular industry. Location and product have the most to do with determining the market structure. There are four defined market types. The first market structure is called the perfectly competitive market. The second market is called a monopoly market structure. The third market is called monopolistic competition market structure. The final market is called oligopoly market structure. Each market structure is different and both benefits and disadvantages

As competition increases, prices go down in order to bring more customers in. Thus, the economy thrives. However, as the government

The structure of a market is defined by the number of firms in the market, the existence or otherwise of barriers to entry of new firms, and the interdependence among firms in determining pricing and output to maximize profits. Retail sales are indicators of microeconomic conditions presented in a given area at a particular place in time. Since Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store, Wal-Mart has been making ripples throughout the micro economies of America. Wal-Mart’s market structure is typical of most of our nation’s largest corporations in that they are an oligopoly (Brown, 2010). According to Colander (2010), “An oligopoly is a market structure in which there are only a few firms and

Natural monopolies are cases in which production costs, infrastructure, and demand structure lead to a single monopolizing firm producing the good at lower cost than any other arrangement. Under such situations, firms will tend to over-charge and under-supply, causing a reduction in social surplus and an inefficient distribution of goods. A lack of competition is a fundamental violation of the idealized market assumptions. Little or no competition leads to inefficiencies of production and operation (Weimer and Vining p. 102). Furthermore, natural monopolies give an unfair and non-competitive advantage to firms that have entered the industry first. In cases of natural monopolies, government must typically regulate private industry in an attempt to maximize surplus, or, alternatively, government may provide the good or service publicly.

Going back to the four types of market structures we can now say that our company is approaching a monopolistic competition structure, in which there are still many buyers and sellers of products, but we have set ourselves apart from our competition with our innovations and there is no longer perfect substitution of products (Harris, McGuigan, Moyer, 2014, p. 352). In this type of structure a firm can earn profits, break even, or suffer losses. In the short run a new entrant into the

The first concept I am going to discuss is an oligopoly. There are several characteristics that make up an oligopoly. One characteristic is that there are many firms in the industry but only a few firms that make up the majority of the market share. In the United States soda market, three firms (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group) make up almost ninety percent of the market (Schiller, 246). Another characteristic is that in an oligopoly, the oligopolists have substantial influence over price (though one oligopolist is usually the price leader). This market power is determined by the number of producers in the industry, the

Charles, R. Pricing problems in automobile insurance: an economic analysis. Journal of Risk and Insurance

Market Structure: Meaning, Characteristics and Forms | Economics. (2014). YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. Retrieved 25 April 2016, from http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/economics/market/market-structure-meaning-characteristics-and-forms-economics/28736/

A market is defined as an institution that brings together buyers (demanders) and sellers (suppliers) of a particular good or service. A Market structure is the relationship among the buyers and sellers of a market and how prices are determined through outside influences. There are four different types of market structures. Two on opposite extremes, and two comfortably in the middle. On one end is perfect competition, which acts as a starting point in price and output determination. Pure competition is when a large number of firms sell a standardized product, entry and exit is very easy, and an individual firm cannot control the price. On the other extreme end is Pure monopoly. A monopoly is characterized by an absence of competition, which will often allow one seller to control the market. A Pure monopoly is essentially the same thing, but also includes near impossible entry and no substitute goods. Two more common market structures are monopolistic competition and oligopoly. Monopolistic competition has a large number of sellers producing different products, while an oligopoly has only a few number of sellers producing similar products. All in all pure competition, pure monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly are all unique market structures with differing characteristics, but have one main goal, profit maximization.

Has the economy ever thought about direct impact from monopoly and oligopoly industries? The structure of a monopoly based industry exemplifies one seller in the entire market. On the other hand, the concept of an oligopoly industry illustrates few sellers that have the potential of making a direct impact in one single industry idea. The economy has depended on the market share of a monopoly and an oligopoly trade. However, a monopoly industry differs from an oligopoly industry due to a monopoly competitor dominates a majority of the market share of many industries and an oligopoly competitor contains few sellers who dominate a market share based on one single industry idea.

a) In a perfect competitive market, the sole determinant of pricing is the market demand and the supply curves. A demand curve refers to the total amount that consumers will pay for their products. The supply curve is the total amount that the producers can actually make to supply to the company at the price they can afford or are willing to pay. Another factor in a perfect competitive market structure is the equilibrium price which is basically when the supply of the market meets the market demand of the consumers. Anther unique feature of a perfect competition market is that it is a price taker. In essence, this means that the company doesn’t have any influence on the price. Again, this can only be caused through a market that has a large number of firms with identical products. (Samuelson and Marks, 2010).