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Monopoly and oligopoly - short answer

question

Monopoly and oligopoly - introduction

Question 1

Explain the difference between a monopoly industry and an oligopoly.

Question 2

Examine the factors that might give a firm a degree of monopoly power in a market consisting of several suppliers.

Question 3

What are barriers to entry? Why do monopoly suppliers spend so much time in establishing and maintaining them?

Question 4

Evaluate the following proposition:

'All monopolies are bad for the consumer and the economy, therefore they should be strictly controlled'.

Question 5

A car is a car! How do car companies compete effectively?

Question 6

Why do some industries, like the manufacture of aircraft engines, become highly concentrated, but the market for meals (restaurants) remains highly fragmented?

Question 7

Explain the differences between internal and external growth.

Question 8

Why do firms try to expand and grow?

Question 9

Explain the differences between a price taker and a price setter (maker).

Question 10

What factors affect the ability of a firm to expand?

Question 11

From where does a firm derive monopoly power?

Question 12

Many firms exist in the business world that operate in two sectors of the market, but very few operate in all three (primary, secondary and tertiary). Suggest why this is so.

Question 13

Describe the various ways in which firms compete to increase their market share

Question 14

Is such competition (see question 13) always in the interest of the consumers?