Oligopolistic Market Structure Research Articles

Sustainable use of a smartphone and regulatory needs

AbstractThe significance of information and communication technologies (ICT) for the Paris Climate Agreement is continuously increasing because of its growing energy consumption. Here we examine the question for the smartphone and extend the investigation to more aspects of sustainability. Critical issues are identified for ten UN Sustainable Development Goals. Measurements of smartphone energy consumption show that a significant savings potential can be unlocked by reducing the data outflow and the large amount of personal data stored in data centers. Main discrepancies are also traced to the oligopolistic market structure of operating systems (OSs), messenger services, and social media apps. Technical means for a sustainable smartphone use are suggested as alternative OSs, social media channels of the Fediverse, as well as free and open‐source software. Finally, societal conditions are emphasized to make the market for OSs and apps more diverse so that a sustainable smartphone use can generally prevail.

Incentives for Levying Countervailing Duties on Foreign Competitive Goods

Objective: The relationships between firm profits, foreign export subsidy, and countervailing duties (CVDs) have not been discussed sufficiently in the existing related literature. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the effects of CVDs and formulate policy advice regarding CVDs to fill this knowledge gap. Methods: A game theoretic model with oligopolistic market structure is adopted. Results: The proposed model indicates that when a foreign country provides an export subsidy to a foreign final good, a domestic country has an incentive to levy a CVD whose value exceeds that of the foreign export subsidy on the foreign final good because domestic intermediate- and final-good firms might benefit from the CVD. Conclusions: A CVD whose value equals that of a foreign export subsidy is enough to counter the subsidy’s negative effects on the profits made by domestic intermediate- and final-good firms.

Reflection of the Oligopolistic Market Structure in the Construction of a Financial Model

The specific methodology for determining indicator weights is one of the key components in the construction of any financial model. Given the specificities of the oligopolistic market structure, it is necessary to reflect its existence in the construction of financial models that have the task of establishing the financial performance of oligopolistic companies. It is possible to take into account the presence of the oligopolistic market structure by the choice a methodology for determining the weights of indicators in a specific financial model. In this research paper, a specific mathematical model that takes into account the presence of the oligopolistic market structure is presented.

Petrol Fiyatlarının Ulaştırma Sektörü Hisse Senedi Getirilerine Etkisi: Türkiye Hisse Senedi Piyasası Örneği

This study examines the impact of crude oil prices on transportation sector stock returns of Turkey. ARDL Bound Test approach is utilized to investigate both long-run and short-run impacts. Research findings show that crude oil prices have an adverse impact on stock returns in short-run since oil is a crucial input for transportation firms. However, in long-run, increasing oil prices enhance stock returns in the sector. This result can be explained by the oligopolistic market structure of the industry. This study also investigated the impact of other factors on stock returns such as macroeconomic activity, aggregate stock market performance, and global economic policy uncertainty. The results imply that transportation sector returns are also highly sensitive to macroeconomic and aggregate stock market performances. Besides its academic contribution to the literature, the findings of this research offer precious practical implications for financial investors, industry stakeholders, and policymakers as well.

Analyzing the Impact of Black Sea Gas Production on the Turkish Natural Gas Market with a Mixed Complementarity Problem Approach

The discovery of natural gas in Black Sea has been a milestone for the Turkish natural gas market. This study examined the impacts of the Black Sea natural gas production on the Turkish natural gas market using a market equilibrium model, which is simulated with existing data from the Turkish natural gas market and solved using the GAMS software. The findings suggest that if global natural gas and oil prices remain as expected or stronger, Black Sea production will place downward pressure on end-user prices; however, if global market prices are lower than expected, natural gas will not be produced and will not impact the natural gas market under an oligopolistic market structure. Our model adds to the literature by offering an economic analysis of a gas production project through a market equilibrium modelling approach.

International Borrowing and Lending in the Presence of Oligopolistic Competition

This paper examines the implications of imperfect competition in a two-country framework where a single good is produced. Using an overlapping generation model, we analyze the effects of market structures. Specifically, one country is assumed to operate under a perfectly competitive market structure, while the other country operates under an oligopolistic market structure. Our analysis reveals that the differences in factor prices between the two countries when they are in autarky lead to intergenerational trade once their capital markets are integrated. A key finding is that the country with an oligopolistic market structure becomes a lending country, while the country with a competitive market structure becomes a borrowing country. Furthermore, we find that the country with an oligopolistic market structure, serving as a lender, experiences a current account surplus, while the country with a perfectly competitive market structure, acting as a debtor, incurs a current account deficit.

THE STRUCTURE AND PROFITABILITY OF WHOLESALE MARKETING OF COCOYAM IN SOUTHEAST, NIGERIA

Wholesale marketing plays an important role in improving agricultural marketing efficiency, developing rural economy and promoting the process of agricultural modernization. To this extent, wholesaling tries to close the gap in supply chain between surplus (production site) and deficit areas (urban areas). Using cocoyam wholesale marketing, the study tends to examine how structure and profitability of the market contribute to the product availability, price formation and rural economic growth. The study employed multistage, purposive and random sampling techniques to generate relevant data using a structured questionnaire administered to 216 cocoyam wholesale marketers in eighteen markets in three states of the southeast (Anambra, Enugu and Imo). Herfindahl Index (HI) and Gini Coefficient (GC) were used to determine the market concentration or nature of competition in the market i.e. market structure; descriptive statistics was used to determine market conduct and enterprise budgeting analysis was used to analyse the profitability . Gini Coefficient value of 0.5642 indicated an oligopolistic market structure, implying that greater portion of market revenue is concentrated in the hands of few wholesale marketers and HHI with the value of 0.14, implied a low degree of inequality among the wholesale marketers. Findings on the market conduct revealed that prices of cocoyam in the market were mostly fixed based on bargaining power of the marketers (61.1%). The variance in the selling price among the marketers also suggested that the marketers have some level of control over the price of their products though associations influence the price determination in some areas. Net return on investment indicated that wholesale cocoyam marketing returned 35 kobo for every ?1.00 invested which is an indication of a profitable business venture.

Market chain analysis of chickpea in Northwest Ethiopia

AbstractThe purpose of the paper is to explain the organization, behaviours and output of smallholder farmers of chickpea market and to analyse the structure–conduct–performance (S‐C‐P) of chickpea in the study area. The study was supported by a recent empirical study and used primary and secondary data from 122 respondents, as well as published and unpublished documents, to better understand how market structure and seller behaviour affect market performance. The study was conducted using the S‐C‐P model analytical approach. Weak oligopoly dominates the chickpea market in the research area (concentrated in the hands of few traders). The goal of the study was to fill the knowledge gap that existed on the topic, contribute to a proper understanding of the difficulties and enhance market development strategies for the benefit of producers, traders and other market participants. According to the research of the market structure, the district market has an oligopolistic market structure with a concentration ratio of 43.35%. In addition, the market is restricted by entry‐level obstacles such as a lack of funding, licensing requirements, the issue of constant supply and a lack of prior expertise in chickpea trading activities. The oligopolistic market structure has also led to chickpea market behaviours that is distinguished by a market strategy where the traders have the upper hand in determining the chickpea price. The study focuses on raising farmers' educational levels, enhancing extension and finance services, building transportation facilities to provide producers more negotiating leverage and accessing improved production techniques as a way to choose the best marketing outlet. Government agencies and relevant parties must step in to address the issues by disseminating current market data on the chickpea industry, enhancing market connectivity and supplying the market with their goods at competitive prices.

Cournot’s Oligopoly Equilibrium under Different Expectations and Differentiated Production

The subject of this study is an oligopolistic market in which three firms operate in an environment of quantitative competition known as the Cournot oligopoly model. Firms and their production are differentiated, which brings the theoretical model closer to real market conditions. The main objective was to expand the Cournot duopoly and add another firm, resulting in an oligopolistic market structure assuming a partially differentiated production and coalition strategy between two firms. This article contains an oligopolistic model specifically designed for three different types of expectations, and has been applied to find and verify the stability of the net equilibrium of oligopolists. The market of telecommunication operators in Slovakia was selected as a real market case with accessible data on an oligopoly with three companies and partial differentiation. There are studies in which the authors limit their considerations to a certain number of repetitions of oligopolistic games. An infinite time interval is considered here. Three types of future expectations were considered: a simple dynamic model (or naïve expectations) in which the oligopolist assumes that its competitors will behave in the future based on their response functions, an adaptive expectations model in which the oligopolist considers a weighted average of the quantities offered by its competitors, and real expectations in which firms behave as rational players and do not have complete information about demand and offer output based on expected marginal profit. While the presented model proved to be stable under naïve and adaptive expectations, no stable equilibrium was found under real expectations and further results indicate a chaotic behavior.

Comparing the Efficiency and Similarity Between WTI, Fiat Currencies and Foreign Exchange Rates

The complex dynamics of financial asset prices play a pivotal role in the global economy and consequently in the life of the people. Thus, this research encompasses a systematic analysis of the price dynamics of the financial assets considering simultaneously four critical attributes of the financial market (disorder, predictability, efficiency and similarity/dissimilarity). We explore these essential attributes of the financial market using the permutation entropy ([Formula: see text]) and Fisher Information measure ([Formula: see text]), and cluster analysis. Primary, we use the values of the information theory quantifiers to construct the Shannon–Fisher causality plane (SFCP) allows us to quantify the disorder and assess the randomness exhibited by these financial price time series. Bearing in mind the complexity hierarchy, we apply the values of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] to rank the efficiency of these financial assets. The overall results suggest that the fiat currencies of developed countries, such as the Canadian dollar (CAD), British pound (GBP), and Norwegian krone (NOK), display higher disorder, lower predictability, and higher efficiency than other financial assets such as Crude oil (WTI) and Foreign exchange rates. Also, the cluster analysis provided by the K-means and the Hierarchical cluster techniques grouped these financial assets into only three distinct groups. We conclude that an oligopolistic market structure drives the WTI. At the same time, the other financial assets are characterized by atomized markets.

Sustainable management of lithium and green hydrogen and long-run perspectives of electromobility

The present paper assesses the prospective role of lithium in the long-run development of electromobility. Based on the existing data, the study shows that the geographical concentration of global lithium riches and rather an oligopolistic market structure of the worldwide primary supply makes the global lithium supply vulnerable to unexpected shocks. Furthermore, the work finds that the current transition to lithium-based electromobility does not exhibit traits of strong or long-term sustainability. This is attributed to the limits of lithium endowments, the negligible recycling capabilities of lithium-ion batteries, and environmental degradation induced by the transition to lithium-ion battery-based electromobility. We conclude that lithium-ion battery-based electromobility is a meaningful bridging technology until the time when lithium-ion batteries could be reliably replaced by the strong sustainability paradigm of road mobility, epitomized by the green hydrogen fuel cells-based electromobility.

Digital platforms: monopoly capital through a classical-marxian lens

Abstract The classical-marxian conception of capitalist monopoly, based on restrictions to capital mobility arising from production conductions and property rights rather than oligopolistic market structure, is a fruitful way of approaching the implications of the pervasive spread of modern corporations—what has been termed the stage of Monopoly Capital. The relevance of the classical-marxian conception of ‘capitalist monopoly’ in the context of new technology is investigated by applying it to the monopoly exercised by contemporary digital platforms, with a specific focus on Google (Alphabet), Amazon and Facebook.

Determinants of article processing charges for hybrid and gold open access journals

PurposeWhile the number of hybrid journals has increased with the conversion from subscription journals, article processing charges (APCs) have not been examined as frequently as gold open access journals. This study compared the factors affecting APCs for hybrid and gold open access journals by formulating a charge equation.Design/methodology/approachThis study examined the APCs for 1,354 hybrid and gold open access journals in the Springer imprint. Using the ordinary least squares method, it investigated the determinants of charges, including the relationship between subscription prices and APCs for hybrid journals.FindingsThe results revealed that the charges set by hybrid journals were higher than those set by gold open access journals by US$1,620, after controlling for other variables. A reason could be the oligopolistic market structure of the leading publishers. Although the publisher imprint set the APCs based on the journal characteristics, the difference in the determinants of the charges between the two journal types may be due to the business models specific to the journal types.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings suggested that policymakers must consider the market power of leading publishers to establish a healthy scholarly communication market.Originality/valueThis study examined the relationship between subscription prices and charges for hybrid journals as well as the determinants of charges for both journal types, considering various characteristics of individual journals.

Küresel Fast-Food Restoranlarının Yerel Fast-Food Piyasaları Üzerine Etkileri: Türkiye Örneği

The aim of this study is to try to analyze the competitive structure of the national fast food industry, taking into account the shares of global fast-food brands operating in Turkey in the fast-food sector and their weight in market concentration. In this direction, hamburgers, pizzas, sandwiches, etc. dominated by global fast-food restaurants. The current situation in Turkey in the industry where fast-food foods are consumed is discussed. In the literature review, some of the most frequently used concentration indices, such as N-Firm Concentration Ratio (CRn), Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, Entropy Index (EI), Hannah-Kay Index (HKI), Gini Index (GI), were examined in the context of case studies. Examples of similar studies, which were previously carried out in other sectors and industries using different indexes, are presented. In the light of the limited statistical data in the sector mentioned in the study, the market concentration ratios of fast-food brands were tried to be calculated, and the competitive environment and market structure in the industry were analyzed. In general, the fast-food sector and the entire market, in particular, McDonalds' firm has been handled as a case study, the emergence of the brand in the first place, its development process as a global fast-food brand across the world, and its entry into the fast food market in Turkey are examined from a historical perspective. It is discussed. Then, the market share of McDonalds' hamburgers was tried to be analyzed by comparing them with the market shares of other fast-food brands and products. The market concentration and competition structure observed in the fast-food sector throughout Turkey were intended to be made using certain indexes accepted in the literature, but insufficient statistical data on the industry limits research. In this context, the market concentration levels in the fast-food sector in the Turkey in this study were tried to be analyzed via firm Concentration Ratio-CRn and Herfindahl-Hirschman index. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the market concentration rates of the mentioned global brands in the fast-food industry are at a high level and the level of competition is close to the oligopoly market. It has been observed that an oligopolistic market structure has developed in the market where fast-food style foods are consumed, away from the perfect competition market. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the concentration rate in the Fast-food industry in Turkey is quite high and the level of competition is close to the oligopoly markets. It has been determined that global brands have more and more market share in the current fast-food market in Turkey, increasing the number of branches and their geographical prevalence thanks to their power, recognition and capacity to rapidly integrate into the market. In summary, it has been observed that a small number of international fast-food brands have come to dominate the market by increasing the number of restaurants they own and their share of the consumption pie in Turkey over the years. This has brought about the oligopoly market structure in the sector in question.

Behavioural Remedies in Oligopolistic Markets under the Indian Merger Control Regime

Competition authorities primarily make use of two types of remedies, namely, “structural” and “behavioural,” or a combination of the two1, before clearing mergers that are likely to cause substantial harm to competition. Of these, structural remedies have been the predominant choice. However, of late, in the wake of the digital revolution and greater emphasis on designing remedies on a case-by-case basis, behavioural remedies have witnessed increased use. To this end, this paper seeks to address the role of behavioural solutions in the oligopolistic market structure under Indian competition law, with a focus on the merger control regime. It also intends to understand and critically analyse the literature on the problem of oligopolistic markets and the approach adopted with respect to remedies employed by the competition authorities of various jurisdictions (including the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA), Canada, South Korea, Brazil, and India) to address the problem. Furthermore, the paper aims to examine the scope and limitations of behavioural remedies and their potential role in the conditional clearance of mergers. We use the number and nature of merger control investigations in the aforementioned jurisdictions in which behavioural remedies were adopted during 2015–19 to examine the conditions under which these remedies were used. The findings indicate that there is no straitjacket rule in the design and implementation of remedies employed while assessing the potential competition harm of mergers. The incidence of the implementation of behavioural remedies varies according to, inter alia, the nature of the concerned industry, the nature of competition harm (unilateral/coordinated, vertical/horizontal concerns), and the specific facts of the case.

Understanding and Approaching the Problem of the Korean Dairy Farming

Since the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU was signed in 2011, the domestic dairy market has become more open. As a result, imports of dairy products increased sharply and the domestic raw-milk self-sufficiency rate fell below 50%. Due to stagnating domestic demand for raw-milk caused by increasing imported dairy products, low birth rates, and environmental problems, the problem of oversupply of domestic raw-milk is emerging. The current price and quota system in domestic raw-milk market has many limitations in solving this supply and demand imbalance problem. In this study, this problem was approached from two aspects to solve the supply and demand imbalance facing the domestic dairy industry. As an approach to solving the problem, one is to look at the domestic dairy market from the perspective of supply and demand balance, and the other is to look at the asymmetric aspect of bargaining power due to the oligopolistic market structure. The approach to solving the problem has been summarized by improving supply and demand balance and competitiveness, compensating farmers income, and resolving asymmetry in bargaining power for various issues currently discussed.

Maritime governance after COVID-19: how responses to market developments and environmental challenges lead towards degrowth

This paper considers two current challenges in the governance of maritime transport, specifically container shipping. The first is the oligopolistic market structure of container shipping, the downsides of which became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second challenge is climate change, both the need to reduce emissions to zero by 2050 and to adapt to effects that are already locked in. The paper reviews the academic and policy literature and unveils a link between these market and environmental challenges which result from a focus on efficiency without considering negative effects such as diseconomies of scale and induced traffic, leading to a continued rise in total industry carbon emissions. The review likewise identifies links in how policy-makers react to the two challenges. Regulators could remove anti-trust exemptions from carriers, and policy-makers are being pushed to provide strict decarbonisation targets with a coherent timeline for ending the use of fossil fuels. Recent thinking on ecological economics, degrowth and steady-state economics is introduced as the paradigm shift that could link these two policy evolutions.

Study of Risks in Confectionary Industry of Ukraine

Enforced transformational processes caused by crisis situations, such as battle against consequences of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and the formation of a socio-economic and security mechanism for counter fighting Russian war in Ukraine, are significantly reflected in the specifics of Ukraine’s confectionery market operations today. It is determined that danger, instability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity accompany the development of various socio-economic systems, including confectionery market. The purpose of the article is to reveal the potential of the Ukrainian confectionery market in view of the intensification of competition in crisis situations, to identify the dominant influencing factors in the developmental environment of confectionery enterprises in order to design alternative competitive strategies to support their sales. The main goal is to present the results of the analysis of determinants of confectionery market development in Ukraine in the period of the spread of crisis situations in terms of identifying risks in the sector. Research methods are the method of economic analysis and comparison for researching the specifics of the confectionery market; abstract-logical method for theoretical generalisation and conclusions; calculation of confectionery market capacity and market shares of Ukrainian confectionery enterprises; index method for assessing the concentration levels in the confectionery market. Conclusions and added value of work: the specifics of Ukrainian confectionery market development are revealed. Analysis of the dynamics of the confectionery production volume in Ukraine has been carried out; the number of business entities in the segments characterised by types of economic activity and in terms of large, medium, small and micro enterprises has been identified. Analysis of export-import operations volumes has been carried out based on the commodity structure of foreign trade in confectionery products. The list of risks of the developmental environment of confectionery enterprises and intra-industry risks has been identified using the probabilistic method of risk assessment; analysis of factors affecting the dynamics of confectionery market development has been established in accordance with M. Porter's method of five forces of competition, an assessment of market concentration has been carried out using the index method (in particular, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index and the Lind index). According to the results of the evaluation of concentration levels of confectionery market in Ukraine and the factors affecting the conjuncture of this market, it has been identified that three enterprises are involved in the core of the confectionery market, namely SE "KK ROSHEN", PrJSC "HBF" and PrJSC "AVK". Forms of their interaction are secret conspiracies, the policy of dictating prices in order to maintain the market power of influence on industry counterparties and other stakeholders of the confectionery market, and other forms of interaction characteristic of an oligopolistic market structure.

Value chain analysis of tomato: The case of Bure, Jabitehinan and North Mecha districts of Amhara regional state, Ethiopia

Ethiopia is still in the early stages of implementing agricultural value chains in general, and the tomato value chain in particular. Tomato production in Bure, Jabitehinan, and North Mecha Districts has played a critical role in generating income and creating jobs for many smallholder farmers, resulting in poverty reduction. Tomato growers, on the other hand, faced numerous challenges, including lack of clear tomato value chain depiction, poor product value addition, frail value chain linkage, and the perishable nature of the crop itself. As a result of these issues, tomato growers experienced low product prices, a lack of market information, and market inefficiencies, all of which limited the potential benefit of tomato value chain actors. Therefore, this study was aimed to mapping tomato value chain actors, their roles and linkages; to identify the major tomato market channels, and analyzing the structure, conduct and performance (S-C-P) of tomato value chain in the selected districts. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were collected from randomly selected 280 tomato producers and 60 traders. To improve the validity of the data, the researchers were used focus group discussion and key informant interview in two rounds with a total size of 10 participants per discussion and secondary data were included from published articles and unpublished district reports. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was applied to select tomato producers and random sampling for traders. Descriptive statistics was applied to analyze data and generate valuable information on market structure, conduct and performance of tomato value chain. The survey result shows that input suppliers, producers, rural collectors, retailers, wholesaler, processors and consumers were identified as core tomato value chain actors. From the survey result, only 40.7% of the total respondents stated that tomato value addition was implemented and practiced. The perishability nature of the product and the low value addition practice of producers were led to less beneficiary in the tomato value chain. Processors obtained 44.82% of the profit share, which is the highest amount of profit share among other tomato value chain actors. Result from analysis of market concentration indicated that tomato market characterized by oligopolistic market structure with the buyers’ concentration ratio of 45.53%. Market conduct shows that 73.21% of the price of tomato was set by traders while producers were price taker. Regarding to the market performance analysis, the highest TGMM was registered in channel X which accounts the estimated percentage share of 75% of consumer price. This study recommended that the decision maker should take-up initiative for strengthening of tomato value chain performance by capacitating farmer association to increase their bargaining power and supporting actors involved in local tomato markets. In addition, it is recommended that the government of the region should developed a policy that reduce oligopolistic tendency of market structure so as to create competitive tomato market environment for all actor in the market. • Ethiopia is still an infant stage of implementing agricultural value chains particularly tomato value chain • Tomato growers, faced problems i.e., poor value addition, frail value chain linkage, & perishable nature of the crop itself deviates the potential benefit of tomato value chain actors. • 40.7% of the total respondents stated that tomato value addition was implemented and practiced. • Tomato market characterized by oligopolistic market structure of 45.53%. • Promoting value addition activities and reducing oligopolistic market structure leads to create competitive tomato market environment for all actors

Imperfect Competition, Real Estate Prices and New Stylized Facts

In this paper, we develop an overlapping generation model with imperfect competition and land to provide a theoretical foundation for some empirical observations made since the end of the 1970s. The problem is that these new “stylized facts” do not coincide with Kaldor’s stylized facts and unfortunately the standard growth models are not able to explain these new facts. By using our model, we are able to theoretically derive these new facts and to provide a theoretical foundation for them. In particular, increasing market concentration leads to a decline in the labor income share, to a decline in the capital income share, to a decline in the natural interest rate, to an increasing wealth to income ratio, and to an over-proportional increase in land prices in developed countries. The model developed for analysis has close similarity with the standard neoclassical overlapping generation model with endogenous growth and land. The main difference between the standard neoclassical and the model in this paper is the market structure. Instead of assuming perfectly competitive markets, we assume an oligopolistic market structure. This leads to the occurrence of pure profits for firms and, accordingly, the input factors are no longer paid their marginal products.