1. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Competition in Markets BTEC Business

2. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Market Structures Firms operate in markets. These are structured differently. We can look at three different types of market structure and find examples of each: –monopoly –duopoly –oligopoly

3. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Monopoly a market structure where there is a single seller of a unique product no competition, as the firm = the market potential for abuse of monopoly position the market may be a natural monopoly –having competition amongst firms in this kind of market would be costly

4. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Example of Monopoly there may be significant savings to be had from having one company running the market Network Rail are responsible for the maintenance and upgrading of the UK rail network is it safer to have one company in charge?

5. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Duopoly two large producers or sellers exactly two equally dominant firms seldom found tend to compete or collude

6. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Example of Duopoly global aircraft market two dominant firms are Airbus and Boeing how do they compete with each other?

7. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Oligopoly markets dominated by a small number of large firms the most common types of market large firms are involved in selling either identical or very similar products significant barriers to entry into the industry

8. http://www.bized.co.uk Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Example of Oligopoly the personal and domestic care product markets dominated by: –Unilever –Procter and Gamble –Colgate-Palmolive