For this final project, you will write a 6- to 10-page paper in which you research and analyze the market for a product or service produced by the company you work for, or by some other company that you know well. The paper will need to be in APA format. Throughout the paper, you will need to provide careful economic analysis of your chosen market using the economics concepts from the course. As a starting point, you should expect your audience to be familiar with these concepts, so there is no need to define basic concepts. Instead, demonstrate your understanding of the concepts by applying them competently. Your goal should be to teach us about this company or industry. the emphasis must be on the economic analysis and readers should be able to learn something not easily discovered. Please make sure to answer every question within each section listed below:
What is the general market structure for your industry? Is it best thought of as a monopoly, oligopoly, or monopolistic competition? What characteristics suggest this is one market or another? Is the price high enough to cover costs and do there appear to be above-normal profits? Is the market structure changing over time or expected to? What are the important barriers to entry?
What is the relevant cost structure for the industry and for your firm? How does your company avoid the sunk-cost fallacy and hidden-cost fallacy? What labor market skill sets are needed for your company and are there readily available workers to hire? What does the market for important inputs look like? Does your company have many or few options from which to source important inputs? Is the hold-up problem a concern? Are there economies of scale? Are there economies of scope or diseconomies of scope? Are there large fixed costs? How do the variable costs compare to the fixed costs in terms of relative size?
Is your firm able to practice price discrimination? What form of price discrimination is most relevant in this industry and are there other opportunities that your firm has not yet taken, and why? Remember, there is a difference between price differences caused by cost differences! If price discrimination is possible, how is your firm able to accomplish this effectively? Are there opportunities to enhance your firm’s ability to practice price discrimination?
What is the influence of government on your company or market? Is there a heavy tax burden? Are there subsidies or price controls? Are there are other regulations that are relevant to the functioning of the market? This could include environmental regulations, taxes, tariffs, minimum wages, and so on. Describe the specific features of the regulation and their impact on your company or industry. Provide estimates of the impact on the market (e.g., prices, costs, or employment). Has this left room for businesses to exploit the inefficiency to create wealth?
The paper should be 6 to 10 pages and use APA format, standard font and font size, 1-inch margins, and double spacing. The cover page, reference page, and appendix do not count toward the page count.
Classroom text book is Managerial Economics fifth edition please use this as one of the reference.
