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Demand Elasticity

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Submitted By BlountMicah22
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Week 4 Journal
Micah Blount
Ashford University
Managerial Economics
BUS 640
Prof. Okolo
May 18, 2014

During these past weeks we have discussed many different concepts like, demand elasticity, relevant cost, and contribution analysis, just to name a few. The concept that has really been valuable in helping me understand events or policies is market structures. Looking at the overall market structure with the goal of defining and predicting consumer behavior, marketing managers seek to define market structure to create competitive strategies as part of an overall marketing plan (). We learned that the four basic market structures include, pure competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. Pure competition markets are many sellers supplying identical products, such as framers selling milk, eggs, or corn, or individuals selling shares on the Stock Exchange (Douglas, (2012). Monopolistic competition markets are many sellers each supplying differentiated products, such as coffee shop in the central business district of a large city (Douglas, (2012). Oligopoly markets supply relatively few sellers each supply identical or differentiated products, such as automobiles, aircraft, and steel (Douglas, (2012). Monopoly markets have only one seller of a product or service, which has no direct substitutes, such as your local gas or electricity (Douglas, (2012). My understanding of oligopoly helped me understand an article I read this weekend about AT&T and DirecTV. AT&T Inc. agreed to buy DirecTV for $48.5 billion, or $95 per share, a move that gives telecommunications company a larger base of video subscribers and would increase its ability to compete against Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which agreed to a merger in February. Unlike Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which does not compete in the same territory, AT&T's U-verse,

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