...The Role and Measurement of Quality in Competition Analysis 2013 The OECD Competition Committee discussed the role and measurement of quality in competition analysis in June 2013. This document contains an executive summary of that debate and the documents from the meeting: an analytical note by the OECD staff and written submissions: Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States and BIAC. A note by Theodore Voorhees Jr. as well as a detailed summary of the discussion are also included. Competition policy is just as concerned with quality as it is with prices. While the importance of quality is undisputed and issues about quality are mentioned pervasively in competition agency guidelines and court decisions, there is no widely-agreed framework for analysing it which often renders its treatment superficial. There are a number of reasons why in practice, courts and competition authorities rarely analyse quality effects as rigorously as they analyse price effects. First, quality is a subjective concept and therefore much harder to define and measure than prices. In addition, microeconomic theory offers little help in predicting how changes in the level of competition in a market will affect quality and it is usually up to empirical analysis to determine how quality will change in response to varying degrees of competition in the context of particular markets. Given difficulties in terms of the evaluation...
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...you normally earn? I felt very bad because I know I am better than a bad grade so I get determined to get a better grade next time. 3) Think about a time when a friend or family member was feeling down about a poor grade or performance. What was your reaction? Did you say anything to him or her? What did you say? I told them that there is always a next time where you can do better and to not worry about the past because there’s always better times ahead. 4) Think of the last time you entered a new experience (1st time in a class, a new job, 1st year in a leadership role, etc.). Describe your thoughts. Would you consider yourself more anxious (fearful) than excited (nervous but energetic) or vice versa? I was very nervous but excited my first time I took part in something new. You have no idea what to expect but the anticipation of something great keeps your hopes up. 5) Suppose a teacher asks for a volunteer to lead a team project. You have the skills and some experience with the task at hand. Would you volunteer? Why or why not? I would volunteer because it is the right thing to do. It is an experience that you might never get to experience again. Being open to anything is a very good trait even if you are not qualified. Part II. Review your answers to the questions above and determine whether your response is optimistic or pessimistic. List your determination beside the numbers below. 1. _________optimistic________ 2. ______optimistic___________...
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...Proposed Merger Between Staples and Office Depot Leads to Concerns of Higher Prices Michael Baye and Patrick Scholten prepared this case to serve as the basis for classroom discussion rather than to represent economic or legal fact. The case is a condensed and slightly modified version of the public copy of the FTC's motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the proposed merger between Staples and Office Depot dated April 10, 1997. No 1:97CV00701. OFFICE SUPPLY SUPERSTORE MARKET Staples and Office Depot pioneered the office superstore concept within months of each other in 1986. Over the next ten years, they and a number of other firms seized on the same strategy of providing a convenient, reliable and economical source of office supplies for small businesses and individuals with home offices. These firms competed aggressively, developing office superstores as a one-step destination, carrying a full line of consumable office supply items as well as assorted other products. Staples and Office Depot have been immensely successful: today, Staples has almost 500 stores and Office Depot has more than 500 stores nationwide; they compete head-to-head in 42 metropolitan areas across the country. On September 4, 1996, Staples and Office Depot entered into an agreement whereby Staples would acquire the stock and assets of Office Depot for $4 billion. The merged company would have combined annual sales that exceed $10 billion. Absent the merger, both...
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...has evolved over the last few decades. Our examples focus on the US experience, which we know best. But we are confident that the broad considerations we discuss apply to any competition policy regime. The first body of economic knowledge we discuss involves methods of distinguishing among alternative explanations for market outcomes or firm conduct. This is termed the problem of ‘‘identification’’ in empirical economics.We show how courts can apply what economists have learned about identification to the problems of defining markets and determining whether market power has been exercised. We show that the same analytic issues arise regardless of whether the evidence on these concepts is quantitative or qualitative. The second relevant body of economic knowledge derives from the empirical economics research literature, taken as a whole. That literature demonstrates that di¤erences among industries are important, making the industry the appropriate unit of analysis for addressing economic issues related to competition policy. A similar conclusion was reached long ago in antitrust law, when market definition became central to reasonableness analysis. But, as we explain, the research literature goes further in a way that has not yet been fully appreciated in antitrust: it suggests generalizations across closely related industries that can be exploited to help evaluate evidence and resolve cases. We conclude by considering ways of increasing the institutional capacity...
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...Institutions - Courts, FTC, DOJ, Congress. Information - Asymmetric (FTC has done a lot of research and know quiet a lot to support the antitrust case but Staples and Office depot will know more about the relevant product market, Pricing etc.), Incomplete (e.g. Whether it was possible to pass through the improvements in efficiencies to the consumers and if yes how much), Contested (Whether the definition of the relevant product market was right, etc.). Nonmarket issue lifecycle analysis - The issue was in the legislative stage. FTC had contested the merger of Staples and Office Depot on the basis of antitrust concerns and now the courts have issued a preliminary injunction. But instead of continuing with the trial the companies have decided to terminate the merger. Hence it can be said that issue is in the enforcement stage of the issue life cycle. Brief answers to the end of case questions - 1) What was the key finding by the court that effectively decided the case for a preliminary injunction? While making a decision the court required the FTC to show that its challenge was likely to succeed and in balancing the equities it was of greater harm to let the transaction proceed than to reverse it later. The key finding by the court was the definition of the relevant product market as “office supply superstores”. FTC supported its claims by using the pricing differences in one firm market as compared to two and three firms market and also by demonstrating that the price...
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...friend about his birthday present and the boy gives no answer. More evidence that supports the idea of a lack of communication is when the technicians start to take Scotty’s blood out and when they take the boy for scanning without telling the family. The mother asks for some explanation, but the technicians do it without bothering to give any answer. Again, the father and the mother can’t do anything to obtain an explanation or to stop the technicians from taking the boy. They just have to hope for the boy to get better....
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...the short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” “The Sniper” and “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” all share a similar theme “Everyone has the potential for evil. The theme for The Tell-Tale Heart is the truth always comes out.This quote is relevant because in the story the man who goes on to kill the old man end up showing the police officers where the body was hidden. “Villains!” I shrieked “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe par. 18) This quote is relevant because he welcomed in the police and told them nothing was wrong...
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...PERIOD OF CONSPIRACY... PAGE 11-12 7. INDIAN LAW WIDER THAN ENGLISH LAW………………… PAGE 12-14 8. RELATION WITH IPC……………………………………….PAGE 14-15 9. ACTS DONE BEFORE CONSPIRACY………………………..PAGE 15 10. CONSPIRACY HOW ESTABLISHED…………………………..PAGE 15 11. 185TH LAW COMMISSION REPORT AND SUGGESTIONS……..PAGE 15-19 12. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………..PAGE 19-20 13. BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………….PAGE 21 INTRODUCTION S.10 of Evidence Act: Things said or done by conspirator in reference to common intention:- “Where there is reasonable ground to believe that two or more person have conspired together to commit an offence or an actionable wrong, anything said, done, or written by any one of such person in reference to their common intention, after the time when such intention was first entertained by any one of them, is a relevant fact as against each of the person believed to be so conspiring, as well for the purpose of proving the existence of the conspiracy as for the purpose of showing that any such person was a party to it.” This section talks about the things said, done or written by the conspirator in reference to common intention. In this section there are some expressions have been used as thins...
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...Setting Boundaries in the Media “But we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a world where gossip passes for news, and sensationalism passes for journalism” (Bernhardt, Naked Justice). This quote shows that not because the media publishes something does it mean that it is important or relevant to current events since the media manipulates and publishes what it wants for selfish purposes. The media is also a business, and like any business, its goal is to make profits, and sometimes it uses questionable tactics to do it, for instance, publishing inappropriate content, intentionally omitting facts, and including insignificant and irrelevant information. There are situations in which the media publishes obscene, harmful, vulgar, and offensive...
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...Tutorial 2: Exercise 2.4 • Relevant costing - a cost that varies with decisions, opportunity costs e.g. increase in expenses. Does not include sunk costs or future costs that don’t vary with the decision. • e.g. Minimum price for SJ Services Ltd: |Relevant costs |Irrelevant costs | |Opportunity costs |Future outlay costs |Sunk costs |Future outlay costs | |Selling study |Other expenses ($50,000) | |Specialised study costs | | |Total labour costs | |Rent | | |Weekly rental costs | |Depreciation | |* as long as you can justify the costs, and what it is, you’ll be fine. | Labour: Skilled ($12+$8)* x 27 hours = $540 Semi-skilled $7 x 14 hours = $98 Unskilled $7 x 20 hours = $140 Total costs = $778 Opportunity costs: - Other income (machine rent) = $175 - Sell study (you’re able to sell this in the future) = $250 Expenses: - Relevant cost increase (the increase in expenses) -$50 Total = $1,253 (minimum price...
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...part 1 as well as in part 2 yet part 2 lacks the scores' table. Part 3 is also very good with a good use of the literature being evident. 77 PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 5 PAGE 6 PAGE 7 PAGE 8 PAGE 9 PAGE 10 PAGE 11 PAGE 12 PAGE 13 PAGE 14 PAGE 15 PAGE 16 / 100 RUBRIC: OB3 - LEADERSHIP RUBRIC VLEADER (40%) Student comprehenshion and understanding of course material in relation to the vLeader experience CRITERIA (0) CRITERIA (25) CRITERIA (35) 77 / 100 85 / 100 No attempt made at this part of the assignment or evidence of plagiarism. FAIL No serious attempt to address the requirements of Part 1, and/or manifests a serious misunderstanding of the requirements of the assignment. Acutely deficient in all aspects. FAIL Anything which is inadequate in most or all of the following: length, content, structure, analysis, expression, argument, relevance, and presentation. For example, not utilising lecture material or other resources when expected to do so. Work in this range attempts to address aspects of Part 1, but is substantially incomplete and deficient. Serious problems with a number of aspects of language use are often found in work in this range and often there will be incomplete or missing referencing. Adequate work which attempts to address Part 1 with limited understanding & analysis Some integration of research using lecture material and/or texts sources with reference citation and presentation according to convention. An attempt to follow directions regarding...
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...methodological) reasons having to do with the development of a scholarly discipline. Don't neglect either type of reason. If the problem is a very basic one, you may state the problem first and then review what has already been found out about it. If the problem is one that grows out of past literature, review the history of how it arose. But do not forget to mention the basic issues behind the research tradition in question, the practical or theoretical concerns that inspired it. (Sometimes there don't seem to be any. In this case, you have probably chosen the wrong topic.) Your literature review should be appropriate to the kind of paper you are writing. If it is a thesis, you should strive for completeness, both in reviewing all the relevant literature and in making the main arguments clear to a reader who is unfamiliar with that literature. For a course paper or journal article, it is...
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...Was there anything in either the University of Phoenix Student Code of Conduct or the Student Code of Academic Integrity that surprised you? If so, what was it? Why were you surprised? If not, why not? Nothing in the student University of Phoenix student code of conduct surprised me. Everything in the student code of conduct were basic expectations of a student and addressed all common issues student may have. For example, in the student code of conduct it has its policy on falsifying informations on documents used for financial aid and lying during university investigations. It also had policies on hazing as well. These are the types of things that you will find in college and university code of conducts because those are the things that must be regulated in these educational institutions. I might be somewhat bias due to the fact that I have been in college before so I have seen a code of conduct, but still everything the code of conduct entails is relevant to college experiences. What did you learn about the behaviors considered important for an ethical learner or student in the University of Phoenix learning community? In general, the behaviors could be summed up as anything that you shouldn’t do at school, shouldn’t be done. We have learned these codes through grade school and these same codes are now what me must abide by in college. The types of behaviors that are important are being non- threatening, non- disruptive, and respectful to your faculty and peers...
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...Many students present a paper, especially one authored by someone else, by talking through it section by section or page by page. The student reads out the definitions and points the audience to the figures. Anything in italics is read out. The student works through the paper linearly, taking great care not to miss anything that the author might have written that might possibly be relevant. This approach is not useful because all that is happening is that the student is reading the paper aloud, forgetting that the audience is perfectly capable of reading the paper themselves and in most cases has already done so. Here is a different approach. If you're presenting the paper: • Read the paper ahead of time, and decide what you think of the ideas presented in the paper. (Here are some tips on how to read a research paper.) In particular, decide whether you think the paper has some good ideas or whether it belongs in the recycling bin. Keep in mind that very few papers have no worthwhile ideas whatsoever; however, if you're convinced that your paper belongs in this category, follow the steps listed below for critiquing a paper. • Next, decide which idea is the best idea (or a small cluster of related ideas) in the paper. "Best" may mean most novel, most central, most relevant, most clever, most important, and so on. Write down this idea, preferably in your own words, and a one-line justification for why this idea is the best one. (This step is particularly important when the paper...
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...------------------------------------------------- Unit 01 - Template A – Task 6 Poster – Target market for Amstrad (insert business name) Candidate name: Alan Sugar What is the average age of your customers? Adults, as it is a lot of money. What is the average age of your customers? Adults, as it is a lot of money. Are your customers mostly female or male? Customers for the computers were both produced for male and female customers. Are your customers mostly female or male? Customers for the computers were both produced for male and female customers. Do customers come from a specific geographical area? If so, where and how far is the reach? The customers could come from anywhere to get an Amstrad product. As it became a global business. Do customers come from a specific geographical area? If so, where and how far is the reach? The customers could come from anywhere to get an Amstrad product. As it became a global business. Do they own their own property or do they rent? the products are aimed for adults, but it doesn’t matter whether they own or rent their own property. Do they own their own property or do they rent? the products are aimed for adults, but it doesn’t matter whether they own or rent their own property. What do your customers do for a living? Back in 1968 when Amstrad was founded by Alan Sugar What do your customers do for a living...
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