¶ … 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, giving exclusive control over a specified commercial activity to a single party. (Robinson, 1969)
In contrast to the singular dominance of monopolies, oligopolies are industries controlled by a few companies or entities. Oligopolies often are allowed, tacitly or officially, in industries with high entry barriers, and are also often subject to strict government control. The concentration of supply in a few producers is not uncommon in the United States. For instance, several large companies have dominated the automobile and steel industries for decades. (Dewey, 1990)
Even in the name of protecting consumer welfare, many governments have created public-service monopolies by laws excluding competition from an industry. What resulted in the United States were generally publicly regulated private monopolies, such as some power, cable television, and local telephone companies. Such enterprises usually existed in areas of natural monopolies where the conditions of the market make unified control necessary or desirable to the public interest.
Since the 1960s, however, the U.S. Justice Dept. has occasionally...
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
Since the monopoly controls so much of the market share, the producers of goods have no choice other than to sell to the firm at lower prices, meeting their demand. This causes the market to stagnate, in that the producers of the goods must increase their production, but lower their margins (Federal Trade Commission, 2002). The same occurs for merged companies. Regardless of the type of merger, the end result
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
The deal was immediately criticized as anti-competitive by William Kennard, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and by the Communications Workers of America, which represents some workers at both of the merged companies. But neither government regulators nor union bureaucrats will have the slightest impact on the latest merger. They have neither the power nor the desire to oppose the plans of the giant telecommunications monopolies. More substantial opposition
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
Managerial Economics Get the financial data for a company or organization for five years. From the balance sheet and the income statement for the company or organization develop regression line formulae for each line item and predict those line item revenues and costs over the next five years. Don't do prediction for any item in the statement less than 10% of the total sales on the incomes statement or 10% of
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