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Oligoplistic Markets in Terms of Structure and Market Conduct

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

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.

Primarily an oligopolistic market can be defined in terms of its structure this means several things such as the number of firms within a specific market this also links very well with a second aspect …show more content…

The second form of competition and final aspect of market conduct in an oligopoly is price competitive and is more applicable to supermarkets because unlike computer or car manufactures they usually have a very similar range of products to offer, and therefore depend on lower prices to outcompete the other firms. However this can often lead to a kinked demand curve a curve where there is two points at which the firms demand curve is elastic and at another point inelastic. The elastic section of a kinked demand curve occurs when a firm increases its prices and in response the competitors keep their prices as they are at a lower price. The inelastic portion is derived when a firm reduces its prices and competitors meet these prices causing an inelastic

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