Preview

Maximizing Profits in Market Structures

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1141 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Maximizing Profits in Market Structures
Maximizing Profits in Market Structures Paper
XECO/212
December 16, 2012

Maximizing Profits in Market Structures Paper

Today's economy has many different factors that keep in afloat and keeps spending at an all-time high. There are many determining factors that dictate what direction our economy will be heading in. Some of the most important factors in regards with dealing with create revenue for the western worlds are market structures. The most important of the market structures would easily be competitive markets, monopolies and oligopolies. While to the laymen these things may seem all the same these market structures are very different.

Competitive markets are known for having products that are open to the public and having many distributors. As a result considering that this is a product that is open to the public that is easily accessible yet has many distributors causing competitions between distributors. Oligopolies on the other hand a few a very limited numbers of distributors so if something happens to a seller it can have a large effect on the market and can easily eliminate a product being sold in this market structure at a whole. A monopoly on the other hand has complete control over a product that it manufactures in most cases exclusively. When thinking of a monopoly a prime example would be Apple as their products are so different from their competition even though it's only a different platform their products are so apart from the competition that they have exclusive differences. A prime example of a Oligopolies would be products that are hard to obtain, one that comes to mind would be antiques a type of product that loses its value if it's been reproduced, worth a lot of money by itself yet isn't sold on an international level and if there was a prime distributor of them and their sales took a plunge their business would probably take a plunge with it. The animation business is a good example of an oligopoly; even though it doesn't

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    egt1 task3

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers. An oligopoly has the ability to determine its own price and output. (McConnell 164) Industrial regulation is used to reduce the market power of monopolies. It’s also used to reduce the market power of oligopolies, prevent collusion and increase market competition. A pure monopoly is a market structure in which only one…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Oligopoly is a market structure containing a small number of relatively large firms that often produce slightly differentiated output and with significant barriers to entry. Monopoly is a market structure containing a single firm that produces a good with no close substitutes and with significant barriers to entry. While it might seem as though the difference between oligopoly and monopoly is clear cut, such is not always the case.…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Competitive market is many sellers that sell similar products with very little control over the market selling price.” A competitive market achieves efficiency in the allocation of scarce resources if no other market failures are present. The competitive market does very well because of the demand price and supply price are equal. The demand and supply prices cannot generate any greater satisfaction by producing more of one good and less of another. The characteristics of competitive market are: number of firms in the market, control over the price of the relevant product and the type of product sold in the market. An example of competitive market structure is a gas station. There can be many gas stations in a certain mile radius, but the more gas stations there are in a small area, then the higher the competitive market.…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egt1 Task 3 Essay Example

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages

    An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists). Oligopolies can result from various forms of collusion which reduce competition and lead to higher costs for consumers. [1] Alternatively, oligopolies can see fierce competition because competitors can realize large gains and losses at each other's expense. In such oligopolies, outcomes for consumers can often be favorable.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Lowes in the Marketplace

    • 2539 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Oligopoly is similar to Monopoly however; there are several specific differences. A small number of firms in a marketplace that become mutually independent of each other are an oligopoly. Again, like…

    • 2539 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    There are a variety of different business structures that comprise the market in the world today. The most common ones found in the business world today are sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. From these you will also find monopolies and oligopolies. Economists assume there are a number of different buyers and sellers in the market which leads to competition which allows prices to change in response to changes in supply and demand.(1) In many industries you there are substitutes for products, so if one type of product becomes too expensive the consumer can choose an alternative product that is cheaper, or one of better quality. This is called perfect competition within different companies. However, in some industries there are no substitutes for a product. In a market with only one supplier of a good or service, the producer can control the price meaning that the consumer does not have a choice, cannot maximize his or her total utility, and has very little to no influence over the price of the good or service they require. This is called a monopoly, where the single business is the industry. In slight contrast, you have the oligopoly which is at least two companies competing for market share. In an oligopoly, products are usually very similar, if not identical to each other, and in order to make their product more attractive they will lower their prices, forcing the other one out of the market until that firm lowers their price. Finally, the fourth type of business structure is called monopolistic competition. Like an oligopoly, these firms produce similar or identical products where substitute products usually aren’t available, although monopolistic competition is between many firms, where an oligopoly is usually two or three different companies controlling the market. In monopolistic competition, a firm takes the prices charged by its rivals as given…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Perfect competition describes several small firms competing with one another, many products, many buyers and sellers, and many substitutes. Prices are determined by supply and demand and the producer has no leverage. In a monopoly there is only one producer or seller for a product. Competition to monopolies may be limited to high prices or copyrights. In the oligopoly market…

    • 1412 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To protect consumers there are specific regulations put into effect. In an Oligopoly market structure there is a small number of sellers. What one seller does, in terms of cost structure or product for example, can greatly affect the other firms in the oligopoly. Because of these, sometimes the sellers will join together to try and set certain price points or collude with each other. When this happens naturally, it is ok but regulations have been set forth that companies cannot contact each other about these. Regulations are intended to protect the consumer from the large firms working together to drive prices higher and higher. A great example of an Oligopoly is the Mobile phone market. In a monopoly, rather than multiple companies owning the market, only one company owns the market. If left unchecked this would allow that company to inflate the price of their goods. Some examples of this would be the gas company. Since you have to go with only one choice for services if left unregulated they could set the price as high as they wanted since they have no competition. Regulations on monopolies protect…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    chapter 3

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2. Monopoly is a type of competition that doesn’t really have any competitors because it is firms that are regulated by the government. The MTA is a good example, because you cannot compete with that they are single sellers that have these businesses.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A monopoly can be defined in many ways. According to the research that I have done, a monopoly in my own words is a company or a group that owns all or almost all of the market for only a given type of product or service. Absence of competition is what typically leads to the formation of a monopoly which results in high prices and subordinate products. The history of monopolies itself goes way back to the colonial times. Monopolies are great economic powers that have had positive consequences to the United States of America.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Colander (2010), “An oligopoly is a market structure in which there are only a few firms and these firms explicitly take other firms’ likely response into account when making decisions.” Furthermore, given that Oligopolistic firms are few, they are interdependent of each other and can either be collusive or noncollusive. It is this interdependence amongst the firms that distinguish them as an oligopoly vice a competitive monopoly.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Market structure of bp

    • 1195 Words
    • 4 Pages

    2. In an oligopoly, there are only a few firms that make up an industry. This select group of firms has control over the price and, like a monopoly, an oligopoly has high barriers to entry. The products that the oligopolistic firms produce are often differentiated and, therefore, the companies, which are competing for market share (through pricing , quality and services), are interdependent as a result of market forces.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    One key factor in oligopolies is that each firm/company explicitly takes other firms’ likely responses into account when setting prices, launching new products, etc. For this reason, there is significant ‘friendly’ competition between firms. They each know that it is in their own best interests to maintain a stable price, for if they lower their prices, their competitors will do the same and knock out any advantage the original firm was hoping to gain with lower prices. If they raise their prices, the competitors will not follow suit and will therefore steal away all the customers of the higher priced product. Another key factor in oligopolies is that there are significant barriers to entry into this market. These barriers can include things such as high fixed costs, availability of resources, and brand loyalty. Many smaller companies simply do not have the cash or resources to compete with these large firms. Another characteristic of oligopolies is that the percentages of market shares change very little from year to year and are dependent upon introduction of new products or acquisitions of smaller companies. For this reason, a benchmark of…

    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In many cases the underlying variable is the price of a traded asset such as ……

    • 2488 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Profit Maximization

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2) Explain why a profit maximizing firm produces the output that equates marginal revenues to marginal costs (MR=MC).…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays