I. Introduction
The corporate demand for insurance may be motivated by a company’s strategic decisions on output and price market.Most real world market are characterised by small numbers of relatively large firms which compete with each other strategically .The purpose of this paper is to discuss the strategic behaviour of firms operating in oligopolistic industry and their response to risk .By putting our focuses on oligopoly markets , it should be relevant to discuss the key strategic elements of such industry and to see why this industry operates in such type of environment. Furthermore, this paper analyses the influence that strategic behaviour may have on firms when purchasing corporate insurance in particular and risk management in general. Finally, it should be discussed how this type of market respond to risk when competing in such environment. For such reasons some equations should be derived and explained in order to explore the response to risk and to reach a conclusion.
II .Oligopolistic market
a) Definition
Oligopolistic markets differ from competitive and monopolistic market. An oligopoly is a market structure in which a few large firms dominate the market .It is actually found in real -world industries and characterised by few firms (sellers) in which market entry is difficult and in which firms have limited control over the product and price due to a consequence of mutual interdependence except when there is collusion and non-price competition among firms. (Ashby & Diacon , 1998)
b) Characteristics of oligopoly
Oligopolistic markets are characterised by two main features namely
• Few firms(Sellers)
• Mutual interdependence
Moreover, some additional features should be add...
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...; (2) the firm‘s risk control decision cannot be made in isolation but will depend on the actions of its rivals that is one firm in this market structure has always to consider the actions and reactions of its rivals or competitors;(3)and insurance may play a role in facilitating cooperation or coordination between competing firms for their mutual benefits and we have briefly argued that this is effective where the Pareto superiority position can be achieved . Moreover, this can be achieved only by utilising additional mechanisms of payoffs so that at least one party among competing firms is better off and no one is worse off. Finally, we have also explored the response to risk of firms by using an example of duopolistic firms in order to derive the expected profits’ equation as well as the equation of the impact of technological risk on a firm.
References
with a concentrated market share, an example of an oligopoly today. would be Nike, Reebok and Adidas for shoes. Most industries today are oligopolies, the possible reasons for this. would be that oligopolies in contrast to monopolistic competition. would be able to earn abnormal profits in the long run as well as the short run, as shown in the previous section.
This organization belongs to the oligopoly market structure. The oligopoly market structure involves a few sellers of a standardized or differentiated product, a homogenous oligopoly or a differentiated oligopoly (McConnell, 2004, p. 467). In an oligopolistic market each firm is affected by the decisions of the other firms in the industry in determining their price and output (McConnell, 2005, P.413). Another factor of an oligopolistic market is the conditions of entry. In an oligopoly, there are significant barriers to entry into the market. These barriers exist because in these industries, three or four firms may have sufficient sales to achieve economies of scale, making the smaller firms would not be able to survive against the larger companies that control the industry (McConnell, 2005, p.
Rousmaniere, Peter. “Facing a tough situation.” Risk & Insurance 17.7 (June 2006): 24-25. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 23 March 2011.
It is a well-known fact that every firm wants to be successful in its business. Sometimes it is difficult to decide what kind of actions to take in order to achieve it. Especially, it is hard on oligopoly market because this is one of the most complicated market structures. Oligopoly includes many models and theories such as duopoly where are just two producers and which pricing decisions remind monopoly, kinked demand curve, which decreases economic profit, and cartel, which brings economic profit just for the short-run. However, to be a successful oligopolistic firm in the long run, managers should include in the planning process such economic theories and models as producer interdependence, the prisoner’s dilemma, price leadership, nonprice adjustments, and correct using of barriers to entry.
Although firms in oligopolies have competitors, they do not face so much competition that they are price takers (as in perfect competition). Hence, they retain substantial control over the price they charge for their goods (characteristic of monopolies). In my discussion I will use the Australian airline industry to present how oligopolies operate, and to show the different behaviours and strategies that arise from the interdependence of firms. I will mainly concentrate on the domestic airline market in Australia. The domestic airline market consists of a duopoly of two firms, Qantas and Virgin Blue.
There are many industries. Economist group them into four market models: 1) pure competition which involves a very large number of firms producing a standardized producer. New firms may enter very easily. 2) Pure monopoly is a market structure in which one firm is the sole seller a product or service like a local electric company. Entry of additional firms is blocked so that one firm is the industry. 3)Monopolistic competition is characterized by a relatively large number of sellers producing differentiated product. 4)Oligopoly involves only a few sellers; this “fewness” means that each firm is affected by the decisions of rival and must take these decisions into account in determining its own price and output. Pure competition assumes that firms and resources are mobile among different kinds of industries.
...incipal risk is related with level and number of competitors, the most important are in order: Starbucks, McDonalds and The coffee bean and Tea leaf. To face competition Illy should keep in mind “differentiation through innovation”.
There are four major market structures; perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. Perfect competition is the market structure in which there are many sellers and buyers, firms produce a homogeneous product, and there is free entry into and exit out of the industry (Amacher & Pate, 2013). A perfect competition is characterized by the fact that homogeneous products are being created. With this being the case consumers have no tendency to buy one product over the other, because they are all the same. Perfect competitions are also set up so that there is companies are free to enter and leave a market as they choose. They are allowed to do with without any type of restriction, from either the government or the other companies. This structure is purely theoretical, and represents and extreme end of the market structure. The opposite end of the market structure from perfect competition is monopoly.
Difference Between Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition An oligopoly market structure is one in which there are a few large producers who are present in the industry and account for most of the output in the industry, there are many small firms but few large. firms dominate and have concentrated market share. Whereas monopolistic competition is a market structure that has a large number of sellers, each of which is relatively small and posse a very small market share. Another feature of an oligopoly is that there are some barriers to entry and exit into the industry.
In this paper the effects of firms with market power on economic welfare will be briefly examined. The first part outlines some of the negative effects of market power; the second exemplifies some of the benefits of market power and the case of Microsoft is used to support these arguments. In conclusion, an overview of the role of competition authorities and competition policy is carried out.
A Monopoly is a market structure characterised by one firm and many buyers, a lack of substitute products and barriers to entry (Pass et al. 2000). An oligopoly is a market structure characterised by few firms and many buyers, homogenous or differentiated products and also difficult market entry (Pass et al. 2000) an example of an oligopoly would be the fast food industry where there is a few firms such as McDonalds, Burger King and KFC that all compete for a greater market share.
A monopoly is “a single firm in control of both industry output and price” (Review of Market Structure, n.d.). It has a high entry and exit barrier and a perceived heterogeneous product. The firm is the sole provider of the product, substitutes for the product are limited, and high barriers are used to dissuade competitors and leads to a single firm being able to ...
An oligopolistic market has a small number of sellers dominating market share and therefore barriers to entry are high. These sellers are highly competitive and do not act independently of each other. Access to information is limited so sellers can only speculate of their competitor’s actions. Sellers will take advantage of competitor’s price changes in order to increase market share.
The second market structure is a monopolistic competition. The conditions of this market are similar as for perfect competition except the product is not homogenous it is differentiated; thus having control over its price. (Nellis and Parker, 1997). There are many firms and freedom of entry into the industry, firms are price makers and are faced with a downward sloping demand curve as well as profit maximizers. Examples include; restaurant businesses, hotels and pubs, specialist retailing (builders) and consumer services (Sloman, 2013).
Highly competitive industries normally enjoy less profits as a result of the high costs associated with trying to compete. The automobile industry is considered to be an Oligopoly (much like a monopoly,however, instead of one company exerting total control of the market, there are at least two firms doing so), which helps to minimize the effects of price-based competition. Historically automobile manufacturers have tried to avoid price-based competition, but more recently the com...