What Is The Difference Between Starbucks And Dunkin Donuts

An oligopolistic market is one that has several dominant firms with the power to influence the market they are in; an example of this could be the supermarket industry which is dominated by several firms such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose etc... Furthermore an oligopolistic market can be defined in terms of its structure and its conduct, which involve various different aspects of economics.

Many utilities are monopolies by having the entire market share in certain areas. With deregulation of these utilities, the market becomes open to competition for market share to begin. In terms of regulation of monopoly, the government attempts to prevent operations that are against the public interest, call anti-competitive practices. Likewise, oligopoly is a market condition where there are minimal distributors that have a major influence on prices and other market factors. This causes market failure, especially if evidence of collusive behavior by dominant businesses is found.

A major feature of an oligopoly market is that any singular firm has the power to set market prices. This is evident in the example of Coles and Woolworths in Australia as they dominate the market share with 72.5%. Due to there only being a small number of firms, they are able to set their prices and change price and

Oligopolies have been around ever since there is trade. However, it has only recently gained grounds in this age of globalisation. Never before has oligopolistic competition been so fiercely contested across so many industries.

There are many models of market structure in the field of economics. They include perfect competition on one end, monopoly on the other end, and competitive monopoly and oligopoly somewhere in the middle. In this paper, we will focus on the oligopoly structure because it is one of the strongest influences in the United States market. Although oligopolies can also be global, we will focus strictly on the United States here. We will define oligopoly, give key characteristics important to the oligopoly structure, explain why oligopolies form, then give an example of an oligopoly in today’s economy. Finally, we will discuss the benefits and costs in this type of market structure.

“Starbucks mission is helps protect our culture and our reputation by providing resources that help partners make ethical decisions at work” (1). Starbucks goal is the building good relationship with work employees and customers that positively contributing to our communities and environment. Starbucks is always connect with millions of customers every day in different locations around the world. Starbucks stores are gathering place for meeting friends, business partners and family. Starbucks have more than 21,000 retailer stores in the 66 countries and there are 182,000 full time and part time employees working in the company and cafe stores.

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

The two companies that were chosen were Starbucks Coffee and Dunkin Donuts. The two companies are competitors in the coffee and snack industry and made for an interesting comparison. Starbucks seems like a more principled company than Dunkin Donuts and has and strong dedication to corporate social responsibility (Starbucks Corporation, 2013). Dunkin Donuts also has a well-developed ethical position; however by comparison, Starbucks seems to do more. Starbucks is focused on growth through a sustainable way and has even dedicated their operations to sourcing their raw materials, mainly coffee, through ethical relationships. The coffee industry in general has been subject to a lot of negative publicity in regards to supply chains in third world countries and Starbucks has seemed to take a more aggressive approach to their operations.

The industry’s saturation is moderately high with a monopolistic competition structure. For new entrants, the initial investment is not significant as they can lease stores, equipment etc. at a moderate level of investment. At a localized level, small coffee shops can compete with the likes of Starbucks and Dunkin Brands because there are no switching costs for the consumers. Even though it’s a competitive industry, the possibility of new entrants to be successful in the industry is moderate. But this relatively easy entry into the market is usually countered by large incumbent brands identities like Starbucks who have achieved economies of scale by lowering cost, improved efficiency with a huge market share. There is a moderately high barrier for the new entrants as they differentiate themselves from Starbuck’s product quality, its prime real estate locations, and its store ecosystem ‘experience’. The incumbent firms like Starbucks have a larger scale and scope, yielding them a learning curve advantage and favourable access to raw material with the relationship they build with their suppliers. The expected retaliation from well-established companies for brand equity, resources, prime real estate locations and price competition are moderately high, which creates a moderate barrier to

Moreover, most of the people know the brand Starbucks as the leader of the coffee industry. It is enormously successful and it comes out with no surprise that this will be used as benchmarking against the study of Dunkin’ Donuts.

In oligopoly market, each firm has substantial market power with high degree of interdependence. The key for success in a oligopoly market is to gain more market share than the competitors. Increasing the price can lead to loss of market share to the competitors, so in the oligopoly market, if a firm decreases the price, the other firms will always follow, but if a firm increase the price, the other firms will not follow. The demand curve is kinked.

Dunkin also has salads and soups for its clients unlike Starbucks. The baked goods of Starbucks are cooked somewhere else and not in the shop whereas the entire bakery operations of Dunkin Donuts are handled in house only. Apparently, Starbucks products have a regional flavor to them whilst the same does not hold true with Dunkin Donuts. You would find Starbucks offering you entertainment accessories like CDs and books

Socio-Cultural- Due to the numerous cultures present in Dunkin' Donuts' target market, the company as a whole must be in continuous change in order to keep up with its consumers. Dunkin Donuts must keep in mind the age, income, occupation, and most importantly the lifestyles of their customers if they wish to succeed in such a competitive market. As an answer to this problem, the company has implemented several changes aimed at keeping and attracting a new customer base. Many restaurants are looking towards centralized kitchens to maximize space and reduce costs, consequently cutting product costs, thus saving the customer money. The

The company under analysis in this report is Dunkin Donuts. The brand of Dunkin Donuts originated in 1950 when Bill Rosenberg opened the very first outlet in Massachusetts, USA. Today Dunkin' Donuts is the world's leading baked goods and coffee chain, serving more than 3 million customers per day worldwide. It sells about 52 varieties of donuts and more than a dozen coffee beverages as well as an array of bagels, breakfast, sandwiches, subs and other baked goods. Dunkin Donuts is a subsidiary company of Dunkin Brands Inc that owns companies like Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robins etc. Dunkin Donuts is a multinational company with its presence in more than 32 nations. By the end of 2011, there were 10,083 Dunkin' Donuts stores worldwide that included 7,015 franchised restaurants in the United States of America and 3,068 international outlets in more than 32 countries across the globe employing more than 9000 people. According to the financial report published by Dunkin Brands Inc, the parent company of Dunkin Donuts the net sales worldwide totaled up to $8.77 billion, up 5.2 percent from the previous year and the Net income for the year was $108.3 million, up 214.5 percent as reported by the company.

Firms' Incentives to Avoid Price Competition in Oligopoly Markets In the UK a few, large firms dominate most industries. These industries are known as oligopoly markets. Oligopoly markets are an example of imperfect competition. It consists of a market structure in which there is a small number of large firms in the industry hence is relatively highly concentrated.