What are the market structures? Which will you prefer to do business with? Which market structure will have more control over us (consumers)? Which market structure will have total control over consumers? (Chapters #23, #24, # 25 McConnell & Brue)
The four market structures are pure competition, pure monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly. If I were an organization I would prefer to operate as a pure monopolistic monopoly because I would be able to dominate in my market. Within this structure, one firm is the seller of a particular product or service. I have always had electricity through Georgia Power, however when my husband and I moved to Gwinnet County in Georgia we had to use Walton EMC, an electric provider I had never heard of. I was use to the way Georgia Power ran their organization and was comfortable with my bill. But because Walton EMC was the only provider for electricity in my area, my husband and I had no choice.
I think this structure has the most control over consumers because they can pretty much do what they want. They can increase prices and there is nothing the consumer can do. We need electricity in our homes it is a necessity. So we must conform to doing things the way the organization prefers. Example, this is not the case but what if it were: If Walton EMC declined to take payments over the phone or through the internet and wanted every customer to drop their payment off in person, we’d have to do so because we simply can’t switch providers. In my opinion , I only see this market structure having total control over consumers. Perhaps maybe the oligopoly structure because this structure only provides a few sellers but pure monopoly has total control....