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Maximizing Profits in Market Structures

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Market Structure

The Market structure is the organizational and characteristics of a market. The focus on those characteristics affects the nature of competition and pricing. For example, if someone asked what brand of car or shoes they have, it is likely that the person could tell you the brand name. But if you asked them what type of milk, water, eggs that they purchased, most likely they will tell you that they don’t know and that they purchased the cheapest. How consumers view a particular product of service influences the market power and behavior of a business or producer. Markets are classified according to the number of firms in the market and by the commodity that is to be exchanged. The market models that will be discussed in this paper are Perfect Competition, Monopolies, and Oligopolies.
Characteristics of a Perfect Competition Perfect competition refers to a market situation where there are a large number of buyers and sellers. They sell the product at a uniform price and enjoy the freedom of the enterprise. The price is determined not by the company but by the industry itself. There are two different meanings to the word “competition”, when it is used in everyday term, competition means competitive behavior of the firms which it rivals among themselves, however, in economics it refers to the competitive market structure. The less power that the firm has to influence the market, the more competitive the market structure is. According to Professor Leftwithch, “A perfect competition is a market in which there are several firms selling identical products with no firm large enough, relative to the entire market, to be able to influence market price.” (Jain & Ohri, 2011, p. 210). There are four key characteristics of a perfect competition, which are a large number of small firms,

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