Misplaced Pages

#3996

128-679: Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usually smaller, businesses or consumers. These laws are formed to promote healthy competition within a free market by limiting the abuse of monopoly power. Competition allows companies to compete in order for products and services to improve; promote innovation ; and provide more choices for consumers. In order to obtain greater profits, some large enterprises take advantage of market power to hinder survival of new entrants. Anti-competitive behavior can undermine

256-400: A P c {\displaystyle Q=aP^{c}} where a and c are parameters, and the constant price elasticity is c ≤ 0. {\displaystyle c\leq 0.} Perfectly inelastic demand is represented by a vertical demand curve. Under perfect price inelasticity of demand, the price has no effect on the quantity demanded. The demand for the good remains

384-481: A 65% increase in the exchange value of the US dollar in the early 1980s. The stronger dollar acted in effect as an equal percent tax on American exports and equal percent subsidy on foreign imports. American producers, particularly manufacturers, struggled to compete both overseas and in the US marketplace, prompting calls for new legislation to protect domestic industries. In addition, the recession of 1979-82 did not exhibit

512-489: A certain degree of influence on the market and not fully accept the market price. In addition, manufacturers cannot collude with each other to control the market. For consumers, the situation is similar. The economic man in such a monopolistic competitive market is the influencer of the market price. 2. Independence Every economic person in the market thinks that they can act independently of each other, independent of each other. A person's decision has little impact on others and

640-422: A commodity are known as the determinants of demand. Some important determinants of demand are: The price of the commodity : Most important determinant of the demand for a commodity is the price of the commodity itself. Normally there is an inverse relationship between the price of the commodity and its quantity demanded. It implies that the lower the price of the commodity, the larger is the quantity demanded and

768-430: A comprehensive policy that both maintains a favorable global trading environment for producers and domestically encourages firms to work for lower production costs while increasing the quality of output so that they are able to capitalize on favorable trading environments. These incentives include export promotion efforts and export financing—including financing programs that allow small and medium-sized companies to finance

896-413: A country determines the number of consumers. The larger the population, the larger is likely to be the number of consumers. An increase in the size of population will increase the demand for a commodity by increasing the number of consumers and, vice versa. Climatic factors : Demand for different goods depends on the climatic factors because different goods are needed for different climates. For instance,

1024-408: A decrease in demand. Price of related goods : The principal related goods are complements and substitutes. A complement is a good that is used with the primary good. Examples include hotdogs and mustard, beer and pretzels, automobiles and gasoline. (Perfect complements behave as a single good.) If the price of the complement goes up, the quantity demanded of the other good goes down. Mathematically,

1152-433: A defined set of processes, capabilities and recommended behaviors for companies that produce goods and services. Consumer electronics and goods companies often lead in the application of demand management practices to their demand chains; demand management outcomes are a reflection of policies and programs to influence demand as well as competition and options available to users and consumers. Effective demand management follows

1280-411: A dominant firm serves a majority of the market. Dominant firms have a market share of 50% to over 90%, with no close rival. Similar to a monopoly market, it uses high entry barrier to prevent other firms from entering the market and competing with them. They have the ability to control pricing, to set systematic discriminatory prices, to influence innovation, and (usually) to earn rates of return well above

1408-413: A few companies to build public infrastructure (e.g. railroads) and access to limited resources, primarily seen with natural resources within a nation. Companies in an oligopoly benefit from price-fixing , setting prices collectively, or under the direction of one firm in the bunch, rather than relying on free-market forces to do so. Oligopolies can form cartels in order to restrict entry of new firms into

SECTION 10

#1732772320004

1536-428: A firm takes advantage of an industry's high barriers. The high barriers to entry are often due to the significant amount of capital or cash needed to purchase fixed assets, which are physical assets a company needs to operate. Natural monopolies are able to continue to operate as they typically can as they produce and sell at a lower cost to consumers than if there was competition in the market. Monopolies in this case use

1664-462: A function f of quantity demanded: P = f(Q). To compute the inverse demand equation, simply solve for P from the demand equation. For example, if the demand equation is Q = 240 - 2P then the inverse demand equation would be P = 120 - .5Q, the right side of which is the inverse demand function. The inverse demand function is useful in deriving the total and marginal revenue functions. Total revenue equals price, P, times quantity, Q, or TR = P×Q. Multiply

1792-554: A given market , in relation to the ability and performance of other firms, sub-sectors or countries in the same market. It involves one company trying to figure out how to take away market share from another company. Competitiveness is derived from the Latin word "competere", which refers to the rivalry that is found between entities in markets and industries. It is used extensively in management discourse concerning national and international economic performance comparisons. The extent of

1920-519: A higher market share and increase profit. It helps in improving the processes and productivity as businesses strive to perform better than competitors with limited resources. The Australian economy thrives on competition as it keeps the prices in check. In his 1776 The Wealth of Nations , Adam Smith described it as the exercise of allocating productive resources to their most highly valued uses and encouraging efficiency , an explanation that quickly found support among liberal economists opposing

2048-411: A large majority of the commercial exchanges may be competitively determined by long-term contracts and therefore long-term clearing prices. In such a scenario, a "remainder market" is one where prices are determined by the small part of the market that deals with the availability of goods not cleared via long term transactions. For example, in the sugar industry , about 94-95% of the market clearing price

2176-719: A level where marginal cost equals marginal revenue. In a perfectly competitive market, firms/producers earn zero economic profit in the long run. This is proved by Cournot's system. Imperfectly competitive markets are the realistic markets that exist in the economy. Imperfect competition exist when; buyers might not have the complete information on the products sold, companies sell different products and services, set their own individual prices, fight for market share and are often protected by barriers to entry and exit, making it harder for new firms to challenge them. An important differentiation from perfect competition is, in markets with imperfect competition, individual buyers and sellers have

2304-426: A monopolistic competitive industry are low, and the decisions of any one firm do not directly affect those of its competitors. Monopolistic competition exists in-between monopoly and perfect competition, as it combines elements of both market structures. Within monopolistic competition market structures all firms have the same, relatively low degree of market power; they are all price makers, rather than price takers. In

2432-617: A property at one location. Competition requires the existing of multiple firms, so it duplicates fixed costs . In a small number of goods and services, the resulting cost structure means that producing enough firms to effect competition may itself be inefficient. These situations are known as natural monopolies and are usually publicly provided or tightly regulated. International competition also differentially affects sectors of national economies. In order to protect political supporters, governments may introduce protectionist measures such as tariffs to reduce competition. A practice

2560-452: A reduction of needs can one promote a genuine reduction in those tensions which are the ultimate causes of strife and war. Demand reduction refers to efforts aimed at reducing the public desire for illegal and illicit drugs. The drug policy is in contrast to the reduction of drug supply , but the two policies are often implemented together. Energy demand management , also known as demand-side management (DSM) or demand-side response (DSR),

2688-435: A relatively large degree of competition and a small degree of monopoly, which is closer to perfect competition, and is much more realistic. It is common in retail, handicraft, and printing industries in big cities. Generally speaking, this market has the following characteristics. 1. There are many manufacturers in the market, and each manufacturer must accept the market price to a certain extent, but each manufacturer can exert

SECTION 20

#1732772320004

2816-418: A result, demand for these commodities will fall. A demand function states the relationship between the demand for a product and its various determinants. It is a shorthand way of saying that quantity demanded depends on various determinants. It gives functional relationship (i.e., cause and effect relationship) between the demand for a commodity and various factors affecting demand. The algebraic expression of

2944-409: A stabilized economic development and national welfare. With the implementation of anti-competitive practices, it will effectively remove the market inefficiencies and eliminate the dead weight loss from an economic viewpoint. As firms engage in fair competition, they act within government regulations and laws. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that anti-competitive practices can dramatically reduce

3072-441: A sudden collapse of markets due to high interest rates, the displacement of large integrated producers, increasingly uncompetitive cost structure due to increasing wages and reliance on expensive raw materials, and increasing government regulations around environmental costs and taxes. Added to these pressures was the import injury inflicted by low cost, sometimes more efficient foreign producers, whose prices were further suppressed in

3200-469: Is where PED m is the market elasticity of demand, PES is the elasticity of supply of each of the other firms, and (n -1) is the number of other firms. This formula suggests two things. The demand curve is not perfectly elastic and if there are a large number of firms in the industry the elasticity of demand for any individual firm will be extremely high and the demand curve facing the firm will be nearly flat. For example, assume that there are 80 firms in

3328-559: Is Pareto efficient while imperfect competition is not. Conversely, by Edgeworth's limit theorem , the addition of more firms to an imperfect market will cause the market to tend towards Pareto efficiency. Pareto efficiency, named after the Italian economist and political scientist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), is an economic state where resources cannot be reallocated to make one individual better off without making at least one individual worse off. It implies that resources are allocated in

3456-409: Is a concept in which profit-maximizing producers and utility-maximizing consumers in competitive markets with freely determined prices arrive at an equilibrium price. At this equilibrium price, the quantity supplied is equal to the quantity demanded. This implies that a fair deal has been reached between supplier and buyer, in-which all suppliers have been matched with a buyer that is willing to purchase

3584-474: Is a special form of oligopoly where the market is made up of only two firms. Only a few firms dominate, for example, major airline companies like Delta and American Airlines operate with a few close competitors, but there are other smaller airlines that are competing in this industry as well. Similar factors that allow monopolies to exist also facilitate the formation of oligopolies. These include; high barriers to entry, legal privilege; government outsourcing to

3712-705: Is an effort to examine all the forces needed to build up the strength of a nation's industries to compete with imports. In 1988, the Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act was passed. The Act's underlying goal was to bolster America's ability to compete in the world marketplace. It incorporated language on the need to address sources of American competition and to add new provisions for imposing import protection. The Act took into account U.S. import and export policy and proposed to provide industries more effective import relief and new tools to pry open foreign markets for American business. Section 201 of

3840-513: Is anti-competitive if it unfairly distorts free and effective competition in the marketplace. Examples include cartelization and evergreening . Economic competition between countries (nations, states) as a political-economic concept emerged in trade and policy discussions in the last decades of the 20th century. Competition theory posits that while protectionist measures may provide short-term remedies to economic problems caused by imports, firms and nations must adapt their production processes in

3968-515: Is determined by long-term supply and purchase contracts. The balance of the market (and world sugar prices) are determined by the ad hoc demand for the remainder; quoted prices in the "remainder market" can be significantly higher or lower than the long-term market clearing price. Similarly, in the US real estate housing market, appraisal prices can be determined by both short-term or long-term characteristics, depending on short-term supply and demand factors. This can result in large price variations for

Anti-competitive practices - Misplaced Pages Continue

4096-453: Is important to the economic success of nations, competitiveness embodies the need to address all aspects affecting the production of goods that will be successful in the global market, including but not limited to managerial decision making, labor, capital, and transportation costs, reinvestment decisions, the acquisition and availability of human capital, export promotion and financing, and increasing labor productivity. Competition results from

4224-638: Is less competition. However, a net social benefit can be created, because when the two companies fight a continuous price war due to fierce competition, it will strongly distort the choices of consumers. Horizontal mergers can also easily lead to a monopoly, reducing consumers' choices and indirectly harming consumers' interests. The Chicago school of economics argues that vertical mergers, usually formed under anti-competitive intention, may be pro-competitive to eliminate double marginalisation . A chain of monopolists under can cause prices that extract beyond consumer surplus as wholesalers mark up prices, retailers have

4352-612: Is not easy to detect, so it is not necessary to consider other people's confrontational actions. 3. Product differences The products of different manufacturers in the same industry are different from each other, either because of quality difference, or function difference, or insubstantial difference (such as difference in impression caused by packaging, trademark, advertising, etc.), or difference in sales conditions (such as geographical location, Differences in service attitudes and methods cause consumers to be willing to buy products from one company, but not from another). Product differences are

4480-412: Is not too much, and the barriers to entering and exiting an industry are relatively easy. 5. Can form product groups Multiple product groups can be formed within the industry, that is, manufacturers producing similar commodities in the industry can form groups. The products of these groups are more different, and the products within the group are less different. In several highly concentrated industries,

4608-612: Is often a temporary fix to larger, underlying problems: the declining efficiency and quality of domestic manufacturing. American competition advocacy began to gain significant traction in Washington policy debates in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a result of increasing pressure on the United States Congress to introduce and pass legislation increasing tariffs and quotas in several large import-sensitive industries. High level trade officials, including commissioners at

4736-402: Is said to exist when all criteria are met, which is rarely (if ever) observed in the real world. These criteria include; all firms contribute insignificantly to the market, all firms sell an identical product, all firms are price takers, market share has no influence on price, both buyers and sellers have complete or "perfect" information, resources are perfectly mobile and firms can enter or exit

4864-421: Is the income, 'T' stands for the taste, 'E' stands for expectations, 'H' is the size of population, 'G' stands for government's policy. In this demand function, D n is treated as dependent variable, and all the factors on the right-hand side are treated as independent variables. Demand curve is a graphical presentation of the " law of demand ". The curve shows how the price of a commodity or service changes as

4992-405: Is the profit maximizing quantity: to find the profit-maximizing price simply plug the value of Q into the inverse demand equation and solve for P. The demand curve facing a particular firm is called the residual demand curve. The residual demand curve is the market demand that is not met by other firms in the industry at a given price. The residual demand curve is the market demand curve D(p), minus

5120-546: Is the purpose of economic activity, offering a framework of what he calls " Buddhist economics " in which wise demands, fulfilling genuine human needs, are distinguished from unwise demands, arising from the five intellectual impairments recognized by Buddhism: The cultivation and expansion of needs is the antithesis of wisdom. It is also the antithesis of freedom and peace. Every increase of needs tends to increase one's dependence on outside forces over which one cannot have control, and therefore increases existential fear. Only by

5248-523: Is typically an example of a very imperfect market. In such markets, the theory of the second best proves that, even if one optimality condition in an economic model cannot be satisfied, the next-best solution can be achieved by changing other variables away from otherwise-optimal values. Within competitive markets, markets are often defined by their sub-sectors, such as the "short term" / "long term", "seasonal" / "summer", or "broad" / "remainder" market. For example, in otherwise competitive market economies,

Anti-competitive practices - Misplaced Pages Continue

5376-512: Is when a small number of firms collude, either explicitly or tacitly, to restrict output and/or fix prices, in order to achieve above normal market returns. Oligopolies can be made up of two or more firms. Oligopoly is a market structure that is highly concentrated. Competition is well defined through the Cournot's model because, when there are infinite many firms in the market, the excess of price over marginal cost will approach to zero. A duopoly

5504-434: Is zero. At one point on a linear demand curve, demand is unitary elastic: an elasticity of one. For higher prices, the elasticity is greater than 1 in magnitude: demand is said to be elastic because percentage quantity changes are bigger than price changes. For prices below the point of unit elasticity, the elasticity is less than 1 and demand is said to be inelastic. Constant elasticity of demand occurs when Q =

5632-587: The European Union , each member state must regulate unfair business practices in accordance with the principles laid down in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive , subject to transitional periods. Based on research from Long in 2018, anti-competitive practices are not only an industry regulation behavior, but also a modern industry characteristic for stakeholders to compete in within an fair market system. Meanwhile,

5760-608: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) became the World Trade Organization (WTO), formally creating a platform to settle unfair trade practice disputes and a global judiciary system to address violations and enforce trade agreements. Creation of the WTO strengthened the international dispute settlement system that had operated in the preceding multilateral GATT mechanism. That year, 1994, also saw

5888-522: The Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 contained provisions for the United States to ensure fair trade by responding to violations of trade agreements and unreasonable or unjustifiable trade-hindering activities by foreign governments. A sub-provision of Section 301 focused on ensuring intellectual property rights by identifying countries that deny protection and enforcement of these rights, and subjecting them to investigations under

6016-592: The Trade Act of 1974 had provided for investigations into industries that had been substantially damaged by imports. These investigations, conducted by the USITC, resulted in a series of recommendations to the President to implement protection for each industry. Protection was only offered to industries where it was found that imports were the most important cause of injury over other sources of injury. Section 301 of

6144-402: The U.S. International Trade Commission , pointed out the gaps in legislative and legal mechanisms in place to resolve issues of import competition and relief. They advocated policies for the adjustment of American industries and workers impacted by globalization and not simple reliance on protection. As global trade expanded after the early 1980s recession , some American industries, such as

6272-409: The supply of other organizations, So(p): Dr(p) = D(p) - So(p) If the demand curve is linear, then it has the form: Qd = a - b*P, where p is the price of the good and q is the quantity demanded. The intercept of the curve and the vertical axis is represented by a, meaning the price when no quantity demanded. and b is the slope of the demand function. If the demand function has the form like that, then

6400-578: The 1980s, in the 1990s it became a concrete consideration in policy making, culminating in President Clinton's economic and trade agendas. The Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Policy expired in 1991; Clinton renewed it in 1994, representing a renewal of focus on a competitiveness-based trade policy. According to the Competitiveness Policy Council Sub-council on Trade Policy, published in 1993,

6528-491: The American market by the high dollar. The Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 developed new provisions for adjustment assistance , or assistance for industries that are damaged by a combination of imports and a changing industry environment. It maintained that as a requirement for receiving relief, the steel industry would be required to implement measures to overcome other factors and adjust to a changing market. The act built on

SECTION 50

#1732772320004

6656-480: The Total Revenue should equal quantity demanded times the price of the good, which can be represented by: TR= q*p = q(a-bq). Practically every introductory microeconomics text describes the demand curve facing a perfectly competitive firm as being flat or horizontal. A horizontal demand curve is perfectly elastic. If there are n identical firms in the market then the elasticity of demand PED facing any one firm

6784-435: The United States and decreased investment opportunities for American businesses and individuals. The manufacturing sector was most heavily impacted by the high dollar value. In 1984, the manufacturing sector faced import penetration rates of 25%. The "super dollar" resulted in unusually high imports of manufactured goods at suppressed prices. The U.S. steel industry faced a combination of challenges from increasing technology,

6912-410: The ability to influence prices and production. Under these circumstances, markets move away from the theory of a perfectly competitive market, as real market often do not meet the assumptions of the theory and this inevitably leads to opportunities to generate more profit, unlike in a perfect competition environment, where firms earn zero economic profit in the long run. These markets are also defined by

7040-404: The ability to pay for a commodity. Demand is always expressed in relation to a particular price and a particular time period since demand is a flow concept. Flow is any variable which is expressed per unit of time. Demand thus does not refer to a single isolated purchase, but a continuous flow of purchases. The factors that influence the decisions of household (individual consumers) to purchase

7168-427: The advantaged group known as price-setters. Price takers must accept the prevailing price and sell their goods at the market price whereas price setters are able to influence market price and enjoy pricing power. Competition has been shown to be a significant predictor of productivity growth within nation states . Competition bolsters product differentiation as businesses try to innovate and entice consumers to gain

7296-438: The broader Section 301 provisions. Expanding U.S. access to foreign markets and shielding domestic markets reflected an increased interest in the broader concept of competition for American producers. The Omnibus amendment, originally introduced by Rep. Dick Gephardt , was signed into effect by President Reagan in 1988 and renewed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and 1999. While competition policy began to gain traction in

7424-411: The broader economy. Anti-competitive behavior is used by business and governments to lessen competition within the markets so that monopolies and dominant firms can generate supernormal profits and deter competitors from the market. Therefore, it is heavily regulated and punishable by law in cases where it substantially affects the market. Anti-competitive practices are commonly only deemed illegal when

7552-479: The buyer and seller. The buyer in a perfectly competitive market have identical tastes and preferences with respect to desired product features and characteristics (homogeneous within industries) and also have perfect information on the goods such as price, quality and production. In this type of market, buyers are utility maximizers, in which they are purchasing a product that maximizes their own individual utility that they measure through their preferences. The firm, on

7680-676: The capital costs of exporting goods. In addition, trading on the global scale increases the robustness of American industry by preparing firms to deal with unexpected changes in the domestic and global economic environments, as well as changes within the industry caused by accelerated technological advancements According to economist Michael Porter , "A nation's competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade." Advocates for policies that focus on increasing competition argue that enacting only protectionist measures can cause atrophy of domestic industry by insulating them from global forces. They further argue that protectionism

7808-399: The competition present within a particular market can be measured by; the number of rivals, their similarity of size, and in particular the smaller the share of industry output possessed by the largest firm, the more vigorous competition is likely to be. Early economic research focused on the difference between price and non-price based competition, while modern economic theory has focused on

SECTION 60

#1732772320004

7936-430: The competitive rate of return. This is similar to a monopoly, however there are other smaller firms present within the market that make up competition and restrict the ability of the dominant firm to control the entire market and choose their own prices. As there are other smaller firms present in the market, dominant firms must be careful not to raise prices too high as it will induce customers to begin to buy from firms in

8064-438: The concept of a "closed loop" where feedback from the results of the demand plans is fed back into the planning process to improve the predictability of outcomes. Many practices reflect elements of systems dynamics. Volatility is being recognized as significant an issue as the focus on variance of demand to plans and forecasts. Negative demand: If the market response to a product is negative, it shows that people are not aware of

8192-431: The consumer and his demand for a product, i.e., with an increase in income, the demand for the commodity increases. However, this may not always be the case. Consumers' Tastes or Preferences : The greater the desire to own a good the more likely one is to buy the good. There is a basic distinction between desire and demand. Tastes and preferences depend on social customs, habits of the people, fashion, general lifestyle of

8320-458: The creation of "value chains", or "industrial districts" are models that highlight the advantages of networks. Within capitalist economic systems , the drive of enterprises is to maintain and improve their own competitiveness, this practically pertains to business sectors. Neoclassical economic theory places importance in a theoretical market state, in which the firms and market are considered to be in perfect competition . Perfect competition

8448-505: The current demand for such goods would increase. Consumer-Credit Facilities : If consumers are able to get credit facilities or they are able to borrow from the banks, they would be tempted to purchase certain good they could not have purchased otherwise. For instance, the demand for cars in India has increased partly because people are able to get loans from the banks to purchase cars. Demonstration Effect : Demonstration effect refers to

8576-407: The demand curve because the ratio of price to quantity continuously falls. At the point the demand curve intersects the y-axis, demand becomes infinitely elastic, because the variable Q appearing in the denominator of the elasticity formula is zero. At the point the demand curve intersects the x-axis, the elasticity is zero, because the variable P appearing in the numerator of the elasticity formula

8704-478: The demand curve is negatively sloped and there is a separate marginal revenue curve. A firm in a less than perfectly competitive market is a price-setter. The firm can decide how much to produce or what price to charge. In deciding one variable the firm is necessarily determining the other variable In its standard form a linear demand equation is Q = a - bP. That is, quantity demanded is a function of price. The inverse demand equation, or price equation, treats price as

8832-442: The demand for ice, fans, air conditioners, cold drinks, cotton clothes, etc increases in summer. Likewise, in winter, the demand for heaters, blowers, hot drinks, woollen cloths, etc increases. Government Policy : Economic policy of the government also influences the demand for commodities. if the government imposes taxes on various commodities in the form of VAT, excise duties, etc., the prices of these commodities will increase, As

8960-416: The demand function is given in the form of the following equation: D n = f (P n , P 1 ...P n-1 , Y, T, E, H, G...) where 'D n ' denotes the demand for a particular commodity 'n', f shows the functional relation between the demand for the commodity 'n' and the factors affecting its demand, 'P n ' is the price of commodity 'n', 'P 1 ... P n-1 ' indicates the price of all other commodities, 'Y'

9088-424: The distribution of income in a country in unequal. there will be more demand for luxury goods like cars and LED televisions. On the other hand, if the income is evenly distributed, there will be less demand for luxury goods and more demand for essential goods (necessities). Size and Composition of population : Market demand for a commodity depends on the size and composition of the population. The population size of

9216-430: The economy, Monopolies are where one firm holds the entire market share. Instead of industry or market defining the firms, monopolies are the single firm that defines and dictates the entire market. Monopolies exist where one of more of the criteria fail and make it difficult for new firms to enter the market with minimal costs. Monopoly companies use high barriers to entry to prevent and discourage other firms from entering

9344-452: The effective range of pricing power the firm has because any attempt to raise prices by a higher percentage will effectively reduce quantity demanded to zero. Demand management in economics is the art or science of controlling economic or aggregate demand to avoid a recession . Such management is inspired by Keynesian macroeconomics , and Keynesian economics is sometimes referred to as demand-side economics . Demand management has

9472-434: The efficiency and fairness of the market, leaving consumers with little choice to obtain a reasonable quality of service. Anticompetitive behavior refers to actions taken by a business or organization to limit, restrict or eliminate competition in a market, usually in order to gain an unfair advantage or dominate the market. These practices are often considered illegal or unethical and can harm consumers, other businesses and

9600-494: The exact quantity the supplier is looking to sell and therefore, the market is in equilibrium . The competitive equilibrium has many applications for predicting both the price and total quality in a particular market. It can also be used to estimate the quantity consumed from each individual and the total output of each firm within a market. Furthermore, through the idea of a competitive equilibrium, particular government policies or events can be evaluated and decide whether they move

9728-517: The fact that firms are embedded in inter-firm relationships with networks of suppliers, buyers and even competitors that help them to gain competitive advantages in the sale of its products and services. While arms-length market relationships do provide these benefits, at times there are externalities that arise from linkages among firms in a geographic area or in a specific industry (textiles, leather goods, silicon chips) that cannot be captured or fostered by markets alone. The process of "clusterization",

9856-406: The features of the service and the benefits offered. Under such circumstances, the marketing unit of a service firm has to understand the psyche of the potential buyers and find out the prime reason for the rejection of the service. For example: if passengers refuse a bus conductor's call to board the bus. The service firm has to come up with an appropriate strategy to remove the misunderstandings of

9984-416: The firm's services. Service differentiation is one of the popular strategies used to compete in a no demand situation in the market. Latent demand: At any given time it is impossible to have a set of services that offer total satisfaction to all the needs and wants of society. In the market there exists a gap between desirable and the available. There is always a search on for better and newer offers to fill

10112-457: The fringe of small competitors. Effective competition is said to exist when there are four firms with market share below 40% and flexible pricing. Low entry barriers, little collusion, and low profit rates. The main goal of effective competition is to give competing firms the incentive to discover more efficient forms of production and to find out what consumers want so they are able to have specific areas to focus on. Competitive equilibrium

10240-431: The gap between desirability and availability. Seasonal demand: Some services do not have a year-round demand, and might be required only at a certain period of time. Seasons all over the world are diverse. Seasonal demands create many problems for service organizations, such as idling the capacity, fixed cost and excess expenditure on marketing and promotions. Strategies used by firms to overcome this may include nurturing

10368-405: The gap between desirability and availability. Latent demand is a phenomenon of any economy at any given time, it should be looked upon as a business opportunity by service firms and they should orient themselves to identify and exploit such opportunities at the right time. For example, a passenger traveling in an ordinary bus dreams of traveling in a luxury bus. Therefore, latent demand is nothing but

10496-438: The higher the price, the lesser is the quantity demanded. This negative relationship is embodied in the downward slope of the consumer demand curve. The assumption of an inverse relationship between price and demand is both reasonable and intuitive. For instance, if the price of a gallon of milk were to increase from $ 5 to $ 15, this significant price rise would render the commodity unaffordable for some consumers, thereby leading to

10624-416: The industry and that the demand elasticity for industry is -1.0 and the price elasticity of supply is 3. Then That is the firm PED is 317 times as elastic as the market PED. If a firm raised its price "by one tenth of one percent demand would drop by nearly one third." if the firm raised its price by three tenths of one percent the quantity demanded would drop by nearly 100%. Three tenths of one percent marks

10752-513: The installment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which opened markets across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Demand In economics , demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. In economics "demand" for a commodity is not the same thing as "desire" for it. It refers to both the desire to purchase and

10880-458: The inverse demand function by Q to derive the total revenue function: TR = (120 - .5Q) × Q = 120Q - 0.5Q². The marginal revenue function is the first derivative of the total revenue function; here MR = 120 - Q. Note that the MR function has the same y-intercept as the inverse demand function in this linear example; the x-intercept of the MR function is one-half the value of that of the demand function, and

11008-605: The long run, demand is highly elastic , meaning that it is sensitive to price changes. In order to raise their prices, firms must be able to differentiate their products from their competitors in terms of quality, whether real or perceived. In the short run, economic profit is positive, but it approaches zero in the long run. Firms in monopolistic competition tend to advertise heavily because different firms need to distinguish similar products than others. Examples of monopolistic competition include; restaurants, hair salons, clothing, and electronics. The monopolistic competition market has

11136-700: The long term to produce the best products at the lowest price. In this way, even without protectionism , their manufactured goods are able to compete successfully against foreign products both in domestic markets and in foreign markets. Competition emphasizes the use of comparative advantage to decrease trade deficits by exporting larger quantities of goods that a particular nation excels at producing, while simultaneously importing minimal amounts of goods that are relatively difficult or expensive to manufacture. Commercial policy can be used to establish unilaterally and multilaterally negotiated rule of law agreements protecting fair and open global markets. While commercial policy

11264-736: The main recommendation for the incoming Clinton Administration was to make all aspects of competition a national priority. This recommendation involved many objectives, including using trade policy to create open and fair global markets for US exporters through free trade agreements and macroeconomic policy coordination, creating and executing a comprehensive domestic growth strategy between government agencies, promoting an "export mentality", removing export disincentives, and undertaking export financing and promotion efforts. The Trade Sub-council also made recommendations to incorporate competition policy into trade policy for maximum effectiveness, stating "trade policy alone cannot ensure US competitiveness". Rather,

11392-436: The many-seller limit of general equilibrium. According to 19th century economist Antoine Augustin Cournot , the definition of competition is the situation in which price does not vary with quantity, or in which the demand curve facing the firm is horizontal. Empirical observation confirms that resources (capital, labor, technology) and talent tend to concentrate geographically (Easterly and Levine 2002). This result reflects

11520-420: The market and ensure they hold market share. Governments usually heavily regulate markets that are susceptible to oligopolies to ensure that consumers are not being over charged and competition remains fair within that particular market. Monopolistic competition characterizes an industry in which many firms offer products or services that are similar, but not perfect substitutes. Barriers to entry and exit in

11648-745: The market to ensure they continue to be the single supplier within the market. A natural monopoly is a type of monopoly that exists due to the high start-up costs or powerful economies of scale of conducting a business in a specific industry. These types of monopolies arise in industries that require unique raw materials, technology, or similar factors to operate. Monopolies can form through both fair and unfair business tactics. These tactics include; collusion , mergers , acquisitions , and hostile takeovers . Collusion might involve two rival competitors conspiring together to gain an unfair market advantage through coordinated price fixing or increases. Natural monopolies are formed through fair business practices where

11776-591: The market towards or away from the competitive equilibrium. Competition is generally accepted as an essential component of markets , and results from scarcity —there is never enough to satisfy all conceivable human wants—and occurs "when people strive to meet the criteria that are being used to determine who gets what." In offering goods for exchange, buyers competitively bid to purchase specific quantities of specific goods which are available, or might be available if sellers were to choose to offer such goods. Similarly, sellers bid against other sellers in offering goods on

11904-616: The market without cost. Under idealized perfect competition, there are many buyers and sellers within the market and prices reflect the overall supply and demand . Another key feature of a perfectly competitive market is the variation in products being sold by firms. The firms within a perfectly competitive market are small, with no larger firms controlling a significant proportion of market share. These firms sell almost identical products with minimal differences or in-cases perfect substitutes to another firm's product. The idea of perfectly competitive markets draws in other neoclassical theories of

12032-489: The market, competing for the attention and exchange resources of buyers. The competitive process in a market economy exerts a sort of pressure that tends to move resources to where they are most needed, and to where they can be used most efficiently for the economy as a whole. For the competitive process to work however, it is "important that prices accurately signal costs and benefits." Where externalities occur, or monopolistic or oligopolistic conditions persist, or for

12160-425: The market-given price. The demand curve is perfectly elastic and coincides with the average and marginal revenue curves. Economic actors are price-takers. Perfectly competitive firms have zero market power; that is, they have no ability to affect the terms and conditions of exchange. A perfectly competitive firm's decisions are limited to whether to produce and if so, how much. In less than perfectly competitive markets

12288-446: The market. Service organizations need to constantly study changing demands related to their service offerings over various time periods. They have to develop a system to chart these demand fluctuations, which helps them in predicting the demand cycles. Demands do fluctuate randomly; therefore, they should be followed on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. E. F. Schumacher challenges the prevailing economic assumption that fulfilling demand

12416-421: The monopolist market system, anti-competitive practices are a useful method to reduce the manipulation of business giants and potential colluding actions. Furthermore, the research emphasized the market conduct of state monopolies is no different from that of other firms and market power serves as the motivation for anti-competitive behavior of firms. Anti-competitive practices are also a useful approach to sustain

12544-493: The monopolistic practices of mercantilism , the dominant economic philosophy of the time. Smith and other classical economists before Cournot were referring to price and non-price rivalry among producers to sell their goods on best terms by bidding of buyers, not necessarily to a large number of sellers nor to a market in final equilibrium . Later microeconomic theory distinguished between perfect competition and imperfect competition , concluding that perfect competition

12672-400: The most economically efficient manner, however, it does not imply equality or fairness. Real markets are never perfect. Economists who believe that perfect competition is a useful approximation to real markets classify markets as ranging from close-to-perfect to very imperfect. Examples of close-to-perfect markets typically include share and foreign exchange markets while the real estate market

12800-407: The number of firms, barriers to entry, information, and availability/ accessibility of resources. The number of buyers within the market also factors into competition with each buyer having a willingness to pay, influencing overall demand for the product in the market. Competitiveness pertains to the ability and performance of a firm, sub-sector or country to sell and supply goods and services in

12928-406: The other hand, if insulin was sold at a very low price, it is possible that some individuals would purchase more insulin if they were not able to afford it before. Because of the effects of extreme pricing, no good can be considered truly perfectly inelastic. In perfectly competitive markets the demand curve, the average revenue curve, and the marginal revenue curve all coincide and are horizontal at

13056-418: The other hand, is aiming to maximize profits acting under the assumption of the criteria for perfect competition. The firm in a perfectly competitive market will operate in two economic time horizons; the short-run and long-run . In the short-run the firm adjusts its quantity produced according to prices and costs. While in the long run the firm is adjusting its methods of production to ensure they produce at

13184-411: The people, advertisement, new inventions, etc. Some of these factors like fashion keep on changing, leading to change in consumers' tastes and preferences. As a result, the demand for different goods changes. Consumers' Expectations : Consumers' expectations regarding factors such as future prices, income, and availability of goods play a crucial role in determining the demand for goods and services in

13312-419: The phenomenon of black market, hence improving the investment incentives on aggregate demands. In general, with the effective implementation of anti-competitive practices, the whole economy will expand into a further prosperity with less crowding out effects. Competition (economics) The level of competition that exists within the market is dependent on a variety of factors both on the firm/ seller side;

13440-403: The potential buyers. A strategy needs to be designed to transform the negative demand into a positive demand. No demand: If people are unaware, have insufficient information about a service or due to the consumer's indifference this type of a demand situation could occur. The marketing unit of the firm should focus on promotional campaigns and communicating reasons for potential customers to use

13568-566: The power to transfer this cost price onto the retail price. Unfair competition includes a number of areas of law involving acts by one competitor or group of competitors which harm another in the field, and which may give rise to criminal offenses and civil causes of action . The most common actions falling under the banner of unfair competition include: Various unfair business practices such as fraud , misrepresentation , and unconscionable contracts may be considered unfair competition, if they give one competitor an advantage over others. In

13696-423: The practice results in a substantial dampening in competition, hence why for a firm to be punished for any form of anti-competitive behavior they generally need to be a monopoly or a dominant firm in a duopoly or oligopoly who has significant influence over the market. Anti-competitive behavior can be grouped into two classifications. Horizontal restraints regard anti-competitive behavior that involves competitors at

13824-461: The presence of monopolies, oligopolies and externalities within the market. The measure of competition in accordance to the theory of perfect competition can be measured by either; the extent of influence of the firm's output on price (the elasticity of demand), or the relative excess of price over marginal cost. Monopoly is the opposite to perfect competition. Where perfect competition is defined by many small firms competition for market share in

13952-518: The present period. For instance, if consumers anticipate a future increase in the price of a commodity, they are likely to demand a greater quantity of that commodity now to avoid paying a higher price later. Similarly, if people expect an increase in their income, they will buy more commodities in anticipation of a rise in their income. In the same way if consumers expect scarcity of certain goods in future on account of their expectation that its production may fall in future due to strike, crop failure, etc.,

14080-457: The price of the substitute and the demand for the good in question is positive. If the price of the substitute goes down the demand for the good in question goes down. Income of the Consumer : Income of the consumer is the basic determinant of the quantity demanded of a product as it determines the purchasing power of the consumer. Generally, there is a direct relationship between the income of

14208-415: The price variable, P. It shows the percent by which the quantity demanded will change as a result of a given percentage change in the price. Thus, a demand elasticity of -2 says that the quantity demanded will fall 2% if the price rises 1%. For infinitesimal changes, the elasticity is (∂Q/∂P)×(P/Q). The slope of a linear demand curve is constant. The elasticity of demand changes continuously as one moves down

14336-401: The provision of certain goods such as public goods , the pressure of the competitive process is reduced. In any given market, the power structure will either be in favor of sellers or in favor of buyers. The former case is known as a seller's market ; the latter is known as a buyer's market or consumer sovereignty . In either case, the disadvantaged group is known as price-takers and

14464-537: The provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 and worked to expand, rather than limit, world trade as a means to improve the American economy. Not only did this act give the President greater authority in giving protections to the steel industry, it also granted the President the authority to liberalize trade with developing economies through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) while extending the Generalized System of Preferences . The Act also made significant updates to

14592-412: The quantity demanded increases. Every point on the curve is an amount of consumer demand and the corresponding market price. The graph shows the law of demand, which states that people will buy less of something if the price goes up and vice versa. According to Kotler, eight demand states are possible: The price elasticity of demand is a measure of the sensitivity of the quantity variable, Q, to changes in

14720-748: The remedies and processes for settling domestic trade disputes. The injury caused by imports strengthened by the high dollar value resulted in job loss in the manufacturing sector, lower living standards, which put pressure on Congress and the Reagan Administration to implement protectionist measures. At the same time, these conditions catalyzed a broader debate around the measures necessary to develop domestic resources and to advance US competition. These measures include increasing investment in innovative technology, development of human capital through worker education and training, and reducing costs of energy and other production inputs. Competitiveness

14848-414: The research results also significantly involved the economic theories to predict the relevant encouragement. This article explained the relevant variables in determining the extent of anti-competitive markets too. In perfectly competitive markets, anti-competitive practices are not necessary, since each business already have full information on their competitors pricing, strategy and major actions. However, in

14976-529: The resources efficiently in order to provide the product at a lower price. Similar to competitive firms, monopolists produces a quantity at that marginal revenue equals marginal cost. The difference here is that in a monopoly, marginal revenue does not equal to price because as a sole supplier in the market, monopolists have the freedom to set the price at which the buyers are willing to pay for to achieve profit-maximizing quantity. Oligopolies are another form of imperfect competition market structures. An oligopoly

15104-420: The root cause of manufacturers' monopoly, but because the differences between products in the same industry are not so large that products cannot be replaced at all, and a certain degree of mutual substitutability allows manufacturers to compete with each other, so mutual substitution is the source of manufacturer competition. . If you want to accurately state the meaning of product differences, you can say this: at

15232-726: The same level of the supply chain. These practices include mergers, cartels, collusions, price-fixing, price discrimination and predatory pricing. On the other hand, the second category is vertical restraint which implements restraints against competitors due to anti-competitive practice between firms at different levels of the supply chain e.g. supplier-distributor relationships. These practices include exclusive dealing, refusal to deal/sell, resale price maintenance and more. Also criticized are: Horizontal merger refers to improving efficiency by reducing consumer distortion of firm choice and price heterogeneity. When two companies with similar products or product characteristics merge horizontally, there

15360-418: The same price, if a buyer shows a special preference for a certain manufacturer's products, it can be said that the manufacturer's products are different from other manufacturers in the same industry. Products are different. 4. Easy in and out It is easier for manufacturers to enter and exit an industry. This is similar to perfect competition. The scale of the manufacturer is not very large, the capital required

15488-440: The same regardless of how low or high the price. Goods with (nearly) perfectly inelastic demand are typically goods with no substitutes. For instance, insulin is nearly perfectly inelastic. Diabetics need insulin to survive so a change in price would not effect the quantity demanded. Insulin is not perfectly inelastic, however, as a prohibitively high price would cause some individuals to be incapable of purchasing insulin entirely. On

15616-412: The service consumption habit of customers so as to make the demand unseasonal, or recognizing markets elsewhere in the world during the off-season period. Hence, this presents an opportunity to target different markets with the appropriate season in different parts of the world. For example, the need for Christmas cards comes around once a year. Demand patterns need to be studied in different segments of

15744-532: The slope of the MR function is twice that of the inverse demand function. This relationship holds true for all linear demand equations. The importance of being able to quickly calculate MR is that the profit-maximizing condition for firms regardless of market structure is to produce where marginal revenue equals marginal cost (MC). To derive MC the first derivative of the total cost function is taken. For example, assume cost, C, equals 420 + 60Q + Q . Then MC = 60 + 2Q. Equating MR to MC and solving for Q gives Q = 20. So 20

15872-486: The steel and automobile sectors, which had long thrived in a large domestic market, were increasingly exposed to foreign competition. Specialization, lower wages, and lower energy costs allowed developing nations entering the global market to export high quantities of low cost goods to the United States. Simultaneously, domestic anti-inflationary measures (e.g. higher interest rates set by the Federal Reserve) led to

16000-400: The sub-council asserted trade policy must be part of an overall strategy demonstrating a commitment at all policy levels to guarantee our future economic prosperity. The Sub-council argued that even if there were open markets and domestic incentives to export, US producers would still not succeed if their goods could not compete against foreign products both globally and domestically. In 1994,

16128-402: The tendency of a person to emulate the consumption style of other persons such as their friends, neighbours, etc. For instance, the demand for luxury cars and expensive mobile sets has increased in recent years partly because of the desire of the people to follow the consumption style of others. Distribution of Income : Distribution of income in the country also affects the demand for goods. If

16256-576: The traits of a typical recessionary cycle of imports, where imports temporarily decline during a downturn and return to normal during recovery. Due to the high dollar exchange rate, importers still found a favorable market in the United States despite the recession. As a result, imports continued to increase in the recessionary period and further increased in the recovery period, leading to an all-time high trade deficit and import penetration rate. The high dollar exchange rate in combination with high interest rates also created an influx of foreign capital flows to

16384-437: The variable representing the price of the complementary good would have a negative coefficient in the demand function. For example, Q d = a - P - P g where Q is the quantity of automobiles demanded, P is the price of automobiles and P g is the price of gasoline. The other main category of related goods are substitutes. Substitutes are goods that can be used in place of the primary good. The mathematical relationship between

#3996