Monopoly vs. oligopoly Essay

Monopolies and Oligopolies be twain market situations that are present in todays stinting system. Many people are assured of what a monopoly is and the federal government has even taken steps to engender monopolies in the United States illegal. However umpteen are unaware of the many oligopolies operating in the US economic system today. Monopolies and Oligopolies are uniform but non the analogous, this paper will explore their similarities and differences, and provide models of two operating in todays economic system. A monopoly is where adept cooperation or agate line holds the supply of a particular proposition good or service.In monopolies these firms or cooperations not only try to control their respective industry but go out of their way to land up others from entering with heavy restrictions, low price costs, and strategic marketing plans. The logical argument dictionary defines oligopoly as a some or single supplier effectively controlling the supply and th erefore the price of a particular product or service creating a sellers market. These two situations as defined are similar in the fact that virtuoso or few corporations or businesses control the industry and its prices.The consumer is the target in both situations you see where its unmatchableness or few the consumer is forced to give birth the prices set by these controlling corporations. Monopolies and Oligopolies differ in a few ways. In a monopoly you remove one cooperation that controls the price and supply of the utter product or service, allowing for no competition. Or in other nomenclature allowing them to charge consumers whatever price that want and even the opportunity to push prices at any time for no reason thus in a way holding the consumer hostage.In oligopolies there is to a coarseer extent than one major player and this allows for some competition in the industry. It also gives consumers more than one option. If one family lowers the price a consumer may cull to switch companies. The most evident difference as stated preceding(prenominal) is that monopolies are illegal and mandated by the US government where oligopolies are a common market situation in the United States. A great spokesperson of an oligopoly is the US Automobile industry.There are a garland of manufactures to choose from,however most Americans will agree the major players are Ford, public Motors, Honda and Toyota. These major players in the industry control the actions of each other and their competitors. In 2005, GM offered customers employee pricing. This affected the whole industry, Ford, Toyota and other manufacturers were forced to do the same thing or offer something better in order to twosome the prices of GM to generate profits in the industry. This is a common marketing strategy for automobile manufacturers, the use these tactics to anticipate the next run low of their competitors.It also can cause smaller manufacturing companies to go out of business as they can no hugeer compete with these large companies. Monopolies are a little harder to explain in todays economic system as they are illegal. However they do still live on, for example utility companies usually operate in specific areas where they do not have competition. Consumers are forced to use them do to the region, city or district in which they live. They do not have choices and are needed to pay whatever prices their utility company charges for the service.Another good example would be DirecTV, while there are other cable and major planet companies to choose from they offer a service no other company can NFL Package. They are the exclusive owner of this service and football fans have no other option that offers them every game anytime at their fingertips. close notable in recent history was Microsoft, who was inevitably fined and regulated by the US government in 1998. While monopolies and oligopolies have their similarities and differences the consumer is the tar get of both and is a victim to these multimillion dollar corporations and industries.Monopolies even if illegal still exist and operate in todays economy. Oligopolies are very everyday and still allow corporations and businesses to operate at will against the consumer as long as there is competition among the various players in the industry. Whether a monopoly or an oligopoly the consumer has little to no say in the market situation and one or few businesses are allowed to dictate prices and supply of their respective products and services. whole works Cited Evans, K.(2013, 02 21). Monopoly Vs. Oligopoly. Retrieved from E How Money http//www. ehow. com/about_4795365_monopoly-vs-oligopoly. html Site contributor. (2013). Dictionary . Com. Retrieved 02 21, 2013, from Dictionary. com http//dictionary. reference. com/ Stein, T. (1999, November 6). Microsoft Ruled a Monopoly / Court finds firm abused its power. Retrieved from SanFransico Chronicle http//www. sfgate. com/news/article/Micr osoft-Ruled-a-Monopoly-Court-finds-firm-2899336. php.