ECN 212 Assignment 4
Applying Market Structure models.
25 points possible
Pick a business that you are familiar with (preferably the one you used in
assignment 1).
1. Briefly describe the business. 2 points
2. How many businesses of this type are there in the area? In the country? 2 points
3. How easy is it to start a business that would compete with this one? Are there barriers to entry or exit? 3 points
4. What type of product or service does the business produce? Is it identical to others in the industry or is it differentiated to some degree or perhaps unique? 2 points
5. How much control does the business have over its price in the marketplace? 3 points
6. Should the business engage in marketing and advertising? Why or why not? 3 points
7. Should the business develop new products or services? Why or why not? 3 points
8. Should the business develop new production (or service) technologies or processes? Why or why not? 3 points
9. Based on your answers to questions 2-8 above, what type of market structure model fits this business best? Why? 4 points
While each of these questions probably requires more than a sentence or two to answer, please try to keep the assignment to a few pages. Please type up your answers. You may e-mail the assignment to me if you would like.
A note on retail businesses: Retailing is a service. Many people confuse the products the business sells with the retail service that they provide. If your business sells a lot of products which you don't manufacture, then you need to be looking at the retail service, not the product itself.
Said another way, I can buy the same product from WalMart, Costco, Target, or a grocery store. I'll make my decision on where to purchase the product based on the retail services that those stores provide - pricing, location, ease of shopping, checkout, selection...