Preview

Oligopoly: Economics and Market Essay Example

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5234 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oligopoly: Economics and Market Essay Example
TABLE OF CONTENT

* Executive Summary * Oligopoly * Definition * Oligopolistic competition * Characteristics of Oligopoly * Similarities & Differences between Monopoly & Oligopoly * Effects of Oligopolistic Competition * Models Defining Oligopoly * Dominant Firm Model * Cournot – nash Model * Bertrand Model * Kinked Demand Curve * Game Theory * Price and Non – Price Competition * Price Leadership * Worldwide examples of Oligopoly * Australia * Canada * United Kingdom * United States * Others * Examples of Oligopoly in Pakistan * Details Analysis of Automobile industry of Pakistan * Conclusion * References

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Oligopoly is a market form, in which few sellers dominate the complete market. Oligopoly is slightly different from monopoly, in monopoly market is ruled by a single seller and consumers or buyers have no other choice, where as in oligopoly consumer have choice but very few, usually a seller creates its brand value and gain customer loyalty.
In oligopolistic competitions possess certain obvious characteristics the cartel can set prices, entry and exit is difficult for a seller from the market, each firm influence the other firm, oligopolies can also maintain long run profits as the entry of new firms is difficult.
The most distinctive feature of oligopoly is interdependence as each firm is large enough that its action will affect the market.
Oligopoly has certain negative and positive effects on the consumer and market. Barrier on the entry of new products and seller reduces choice and variety for customer and less investment too, other negative effect is the influence of sellers on the price which is a nightmare for consumers. On the other hand the positive effects are the competition among the sellers that gives better product, and oligopolists are main contributors of national income.
There are different models that help

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    chapter 3

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3. Oligopoly has a few competitors but it is difficult to enter into the business because they are a few major sellers, the products they offer are for example phone service, cable TV, Airlines, etc. These companies do not have many competitors because it’s not really needed.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hjgk

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An oligopoly is a market structure characterized by a small number of relatively large firms…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory 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

    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

    When examining market structure, one must look at several factors including the quantity of firms, type of products offered, barriers to entry, pricing power and non-price competition. In order to define the fast food market, all of these factors must be considered. Due to competition, price wars, and barriers to entry in the fast food market, market structure becomes slightly muddled and difficult to determine. That being said, the fast food market may not solely be defined by one market structure. It is the combination of two separate market structures, which form the backbone of the fast food industry. These two structures are monopolistic competition and oligopoly.…

    • 6433 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is careless to generalize about any system particularly oligopolies. While by definition oligopolies look like restrictive systems,“ An oligopoly is an industry dominated by a few firms that, by virtue of their individual sizes, are large enough to influence market price. The behavior of a single oligopolistic firm depends on the reactions it expects of all the other firms in the industry. Industrial strategies usually are very complicated and difficult to generalize about.”(Case, Fair, & Oster page 284) Economists are very much divided as to how good or bad they are for society in general.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Competitive markets, monopolies, and oligopolies play a big role in the economy. We will be discussing the characteristics, price determination, output determination, barriers to entry, and the role in economy of each market structure.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The three most important characteristics of oligopoly are: (1) an industry dominated by a small number of large firms, (2) firms sell either identical or differentiated products, and (3) the industry has significant barriers to entry.…

    • 1659 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful 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
  • Better Essays

    An oligopoly is a market structure in which a few firms overshadow. When a market is communally jointed between a few firms, it is said to be highly competitive. Although only a few firms dominate, it is possible that many small firms may also exist in the market. For example, major health care insurances like Etna and Blue Cross operate their plans with only a few close competitors, but…

    • 1543 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Carnival Cruises

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A key characteristic of an oligopoly is that competitors are mutually interdependent; a competitive move by one company will…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    microeconomics

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The characteristics of oligopoly is interdependence, oligopoly firms have big relative to the market and they interdependence in making decision. The number of competitor is less and any oligopoly firms changes in the price and other economic factors or marketing strategy ,it will affect the change in competitor firm. So the firms must attention about the other competitor change in the industry and also need to think over the market demand and cost of its product. In oligopoly market no one can ignore the reaction of another firms so they must be interdependences.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The situations for an oligopolistic market are as follows: afterward oligopolistic companies have made a choice, they should reflect the response of other companies; there are rare firms in the market, they are equally symbiotic, and finally, they can be collusive or non-collusive.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Economics and Firms

    • 11695 Words
    • 47 Pages

    1. Discuss how firms within an oligopolistic market compete. 2. Discuss whether monopoly is always an undesirable form of market structure. 3. Explain how interdependence and uncertainty affect the behaviour of firms in Oligopolistic markets 4. Evaluate the view that only producers, and not consumers, benefit when oligopolistic firms collude to try to reduce the uncertainty they experience. 5. Explain why contestable markets generally function more efficiently than noncontestable markets. 6. Explain various barriers to entry to a market and how these barriers might affect market structure. 7. In the past, utility industries such as the postal service, electricity and gas, have been heavily protected by entry barriers. Evaluate the possible effects on efficiency and resource allocation of removing these barriers. 8. Explain the meaning of price discrimination and the conditions necessary for price discrimination. 9. Evaluate the view that, because price discrimination enables firms to make more profit, firms, but not consumers, benefit from price discrimination. 10. Evaluate different ways in which…

    • 11695 Words
    • 47 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    An oligopoly is a market structure in which it is dominated by a small number of firms who have a high concentration ratio of the market and so have the ability to collectively exert control over supply and market prices.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays