Oligopoly is a market structure characterized by a small number of relatively large firms that dominate an industry (Oligopoly, 2000). It can contain 2 to 20 firms that dominate it. As the number of firms increase, it becomes monopolistic competition where dominance is controlled by one firm. An oligopolistic firm is relatively large compared to the overall market, has a substantial degree of market control, and has significantly greater capital than a monopolistically competitive firm.
Key features of an oligopolistic firm include relative size and extent of market control of interdependence among industry firms, the actions of one firm depends on and influences actions among others, and it tends to be a prime source of innovation that promotes technological advances and economic growth. The three major characteristics are a small number of large firms, identical or differentiated products, and barriers to entry where the market is controlled through barriers to entry,….

Common good

One of the important characteristic of oligopoly is the interdependence of one firm on the others. When faced with touch economic problems or government regulations, the only way for the industry to survive is by innovation. When one firm innovates, it benefits the other firms in the industry in a big way and this can lead to co-operations and mergers. In most cases, consumers benefit a lot from innovation in terms of the products and services they enjoy and this is likely to bring more business and profits to the industry as a whole. This is why other firms may be willing to lend resources to benefit the common good. When one company innovates, it benefits the industry as a whole and this can act as a booster to the other firms as well. An example is the five banks that rule the UK banking industry. When they were….

hereas in monopolistic competition it is expected that competitors will match innovations in the long run, that is not necessarily the case in an oligopoly. The firm against which you are competing might not be able to match your innovation capabilities, and that would result in your firm being able to earn profits in the long-run from innovation. If, however, there are low barriers to entry, then new firms could enter the market and match your innovation. Therefore, only when the oligopoly is protected is there an incentive to invest in innovation for long-run economic profit. It is expected that the other firm will attempt to match the innovation, because firms in oligopolies respond to each other's moves, but that firm may be incapable of doing so, and would eventually lose market share as a result.
The reason that innovation flourishes in oligopolies is that the firms in oligopoly industries….

Ice Cream and Oligopoly
The concept of an oligopoly market in economics means that there are few top sellers of a certain product, as opposed to many competitive companies. These sellers are generally in high competition with each other, but have tremendous power in pushing their products to consumers. Because there are few sellers in the market, they tend to be hyper- aware of each other and have a high level of interactivity, and therefore require the necessity of strategic planning. When one seller makes a change, it will directly affect the others in the market, thereby affecting the competition in some noticeable way. This can be likened to a water balloon- when you push one side in, the other sides expand to accompany the change and maintain homeostasis. Similarly, all sellers in an oligopoly market are directly affected when one makes a strategic change.

In this article, an oligopoly market is….

Oligopoly and a Monopoly: Viewed in Light of the AT& T. And SBC Prospective Merger
Since the Gilded age of the robber barons ended with the enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, corporate monopolies have had a bad name in American commerce. However, a monopoly is not synonymous with the abuse of consumer welfare. A monopoly is simply is the exclusive control by one group, often a company, of the means of producing or selling a commodity or service, although it arises frequently from government support or from collusive agreements among individuals, in the words of Milton Friedman. ("Monopoly," Answers.com, 2005) Sometimes, monopolies are conferred, often in the case of limited natural resources such as oil, or in industries with difficulty physical or economic barriers to enter the market. This was previously true of the telephone communications industry. The monopolistic right to dominate the industry was granted by the government,….

monopoly and an oligopoly. In addition the merger of SBC and ATT ramifications will be discussed.
Difference Between Monopoly and Oligopoly

The Difference Between a Monopoly and an Oligopoly:

The term monopoly is used to define a market situation where there is only one provider of a type of product or service. This market situation is typified by a lack of competition, within the marketplace. In addition, there is typically a lack of viable substitute goods ("Monopoly," 2005).

In contrast, an oligopoly defines a market situation where the market is dominated by a small number of sellers. Interactivity is a key character of an oligopolistic market, as the handful of major competitors are quite aware of each other's actions. Strategic planning, for these organizations, takes into consideration the likely responses of the other major market shareholders. The four-firm concentration ratio is used to determine if an oligopoly exists. If the top four firms….

Perfect Competition, Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly
The subject of competition is an interesting one. The general idea in economics seems to be, the more competition the better. "Good competition" results in a greater likelihood in overall efficiency and low prices.

There are several main types of competition, these include, perfect competition, the most competitive market possible (and, presumably, the one of greatest value to the consumer), monopoly, the least competitive market (and the one of greatest value to the monopolistic producer), monopolistic competition, a market characterized by the presence of some amount of competition between a relatively small group of companies/producers, and, finally, oligopoly, the market condition when a few companies form, through a kind of collusion, a kind of pseudo-monopoly.

The first type of competition is perfect competition. Although touted and wished for by many as the perfect economic system, its existence, much like the existence of "a perfect world,"….

Oligopolies
Part 1) One proposed merger is Omnicare's bid to purchase Pharmerica (FTC, 2012). The FTC has defined the industry as "long-term care pharmacy" and these are the two largest firms in that industry. The FTC has sued to block this proposed takeover. Pharmerica is the only national competitor for Omnicare. Firms in this industry work with institutions to provide pharmacy services. The industry has some fragmentation, but there are only two national players in Omnicare and Pharmerica. The FTC feels that the combined entity would have such strong bargaining power that consumers would not have adequate choice, prices would rise and suppliers would also suffer from this extreme leverage.

From Omnicare's point-of-view, the merger would give it a dominant position in its industry. Pharmerica is resisting the takeover, as this is a hostile takeover. Pharmerica would likely be absorbed into Omnicare to the detriment of its own operations. Suppliers are major….

In perfect competition, only normal profits are made in the long run and monopolistic competition trends towards a relatively equal distribution of income (Hartzenberg, 2005). This relationship implies that the further the market is from perfect competition, the further the distribution of income will be from equal. An oligopoly, therefore, will not deliver equal distribution of income.

In perfect competition, distribution of income is equal because all factors of production are earning their opportunity costs. An oligopoly sees adjustments to barriers to entry and exit, as well as a constriction of information. This reduces buyer power. If buyers have a lower degree of pricing power, the seller will take more of the income. Income distribution, therefore, is tilted in favor of the firms in the oligopoly.

orks Cited:

Sakai, Y. & Yamato, T. (1989). Oligopoly, information and welfare. Journal of Economics. Vol. 49, 1, 3-24.

Hartzenberg, T. (2005). Economics:….

market structures and the pricing strategies which are specifically related to each of them. The introductory section of the paper gives an overview of the four major types of market structures and explains the main features which draw distinguishing lines between them. These major types of market structures are perfect competition, monopolistic competition, monopoly, and oligopoly. The second section discusses the pricing strategies which are used by competitors in each of these market structures in order to compete with the other competitors or operate in a profitable and competitive fashion. A case study has also been included which gives a real life example of the market structure and pricing strategies of a specific company. The paper concludes by giving summary and key findings from the whole discussion.
Introduction to Market Structures

Market structure refers to the number of competitors operating in a particular industry and the level or intensity of competition….

Market Behavior
One industry that has seen a shift in the market model is the smartphone industry. During the mid-2000s, this industry was an oligopoly, populated basically by two firms that emerged from the old PDA market. Palm and RIM (Blackberry) operated as a duopoly, catering primarily to business customers with early smartphones. Apple joined the industry with the iPhone, and was quickly followed by a number of other players. The organization of the industry is somewhat unique, as some firms are vertically integrated providers with operating systems and hardware integrated (Blackberry, Apple) and other firms have a number of hardware manufacturers working in conjunction with operating systems makers. Thus in operating systems there remains almost an oligopoly with two or three major firms and a couple of other minor ones, whereas on the hardware side the industry is fully in a state of monopolistic competition.

Short Run and Long Run Behaviors

During….

Market Patterns
One industry that has shifted in the past few years in terms of its structure is the smartphone operating system market. A few years ago, most of the early smartphones were based around proprietary operating systems. Palm and Blackberry dominated the market. Apple joined the industry with the introduction of the iPhone, but more recently other firms have entered the market as well, including Google (Android), indows, Symbian and other systems. The market has moved from a stable oligopoly of four firms basically between two firms into a market that is much closer to monopolistic competition. However, there is the risk that as operating systems shake out, the market could return to an oligopoly of just three operating systems (est & Mace, 2007).

In the short-run, firms in this industry will seek to gain market share through differentiation. The products are slightly differentiated from each other -- they perform the….

firm concentration ratios for the following industries are: fluid milk (311511), women's and girl's cut & sew dresses (315233), envelopes (322232), electronic computers (334111). The industries that are characterized by a high level of competition include clothing, which is a dominant industry in this country. The high level of competition and the many small business type clothing stores, in competition with larger chain stores, makes the competition widespread (Case et. Al, 2009).
Another industry that has a high level of competition is that of car sales and auto parts. Again, cars are a modern necessity and not necessarily a luxury item. Transportation is a necessity for many individuals. This means that car sales as well as auto parts are items that are sold often, and thus have a high level of output. Agricultural and farming products are also highly competitive. Food is obviously a necessity for everybody, and there are….

Five forces' analysis (Porter 1980)
Five Forces Analysis of Competitive Structure

Michael Porters Five Forces Analysis of Competitive Structure is a paradigm for competitive position, which states that overall a company's profitability may be determined as a measure of the industry it is competing in and its strategic position within that industry (Strategy4u, 2004). According to the model some industries by nature will have a higher profit potential than others, primarily because they have a stronger competitive position and are placed within a more profitable industry.

Porter's Model also suggests that profitability is assessed via several factors, including the following: buyers/customers power, supplier's power, and rivalry among competitors, threat of new entrants into the market, and the threat of substitute products (Strategy4u, 2004). The company or industry will have a greater profit potential the less influential each of these items are. For example, if a company sells a product for which there are….

Market Model Patterns of Change
Sir/Madam, answers attachment page. But write a APA format, citing quotations a APA format. answers fits 3 pages.

The operating system software industry that was dominated by Microsoft was a monopoly till quite some years back when other players came into the market and disrupted the monopoly. These players include Linux with their various operating system software such as edhat and Ubuntu and Apple with their Macintosh operating system.

The general pattern of change in this particular market model was that of monopoly to oligopoly. There are several short-run and long-run behaviors in the monopoly and oligopoly market models. In monopoly, there is only one market player who has full control over the market. However, in oligopoly, there are several market players who hold different market shares depending on their marketing strategies, brand awareness, product specification, product diversification, etc. Soberman & Gatignon, 2005()

The short-run behavior in a change….