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An oligopoly (from Ancient Greek ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and πωλέω (pōléō) 'to sell') is a market in which pricing control lies in the hands of a few sellers. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] As a result of their significant market power, firms in oligopolistic markets can influence prices through manipulating the supply function .
An oligopoly where each firm acts independently tends toward equilibrium at the ideal, but such covert cooperation as price leadership tends toward higher profitability for all, though it is an unstable arrangement. There exist two types of price leadership. [14] In dominant firm price leadership, the price leader is the biggest firm.
Oligopoly: The number of enterprises is small, entry and exit from the market are restricted, product attributes are different, and the demand curve is downward sloping and relatively inelastic. Oligopolies are usually found in industries in which initial capital requirements are high and existing companies have strong foothold in market share.
An oligopoly may engage in collusion, either tacit or overt to exercise market power and manipulate prices to control demand and revenue for a collection of firms. A group of firms that explicitly agree to affect market price or output is called a cartel , with the organization of petroleum-exporting countries ( OPEC ) being one of the most ...
It contrasts with an oligopoly, where there are many buyers but few sellers. An oligopsony is a form of imperfect competition . The terms monopoly (one seller), monopsony (one buyer), and bilateral monopoly have a similar relationship.
Examples are Cournot oligopoly, and Bertrand oligopoly for differentiated products. Bain's (1956) original concern with market concentration was based on an intuitive relationship between high concentration and collusion which led to Bain's finding that firms in concentrated markets should be earning supra-competitive profits.
For example, the cost to develop a factory and obtain the initial capital required for manufacturing can be seen as a structural barrier to entry. A strategic barrier to entry is a cost incurred by new entrants that is artificially created or enhanced by existing firms. [ 4 ]
When comparing the models, the oligopoly theory suggest that the Bertrand industries are more competitive than Cournot industries. This is because quantities in the Cournot model are considered as strategic substitutes; that is, the increase in quantity level produced by a firm is accommodated by the rival, producing less.