1. OLIGOPOLY Economics 12 December 29, 2014

2. Oligopoly A situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms. An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market. A situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms. An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market.

3. COMMON EXAMPLES -Operating Systems : Apple, Microsoft -Gaming Consoles : Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft -Canada's wireless service : Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility, Telus -UK's supermarkets : Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons -World wide food processing : Kraft Foods, PepsiCo and Nestle -Airliners : Boeing and Airbus -American TV : Disney/ABC, CBS Corporation, NBC Universal, Time Warner, and News Corporation -UK's detergent market : Unilever and Procter & Gamble

4. Cartels An association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition. Example: the Columbian drug cartels

5. Cartels A cartel is a formal, explicit agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organisation of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production.

6. Where cartels occur Cartels can occur in almost any industry and can involve goods or services at the manufacturing, distribution or retail level. For example, a cartel may be more likely to exist in an industry where: there are few competitors the products have similar characteristics (which leaves little scope for competition on quality or service) the industry is suffering from excess capacity or there is general recession.

7. Homogeneous Oligopoly Oligopoly in which there is very little product differentiation among producers. Examples are the petroleum industry and network television.

8. Differentiated Oligopoly A kind of market in which companies strive to make their products distinctive or different from their competitors. Examples are automobiles, tires, breakfast cereals.