Question

Discuss competitive markets and elaborate on a purchase or experience at work or while shopping. What have you seen companies due to stay competitive in today's markets?

Answer 1

Competition in the marketplace is good for consumers and good for business. Competition from many different companies and individuals through free enterprise and open markets is the basis of the U.S.economy. When firms compete with each other, consumers get the best possible prices, quantity, and quality of goods and services. Antitrust laws encourage companies to compete so that both consumers and businesses benefit.
Competition encourages the competitors to up their game. Android has caused Apple to work on IOS, and IOS has caused Google to work harder on Android. Each competitor tries to reduce costs or improve their product in order to win market share. competition benefits the consumer because companies competing for the same consumer base will work to make their products better, for a more reasonable price.
However, businesses themselves see competition as a “good thing” for them. Businesses, Corporations mostly, work very hard to eliminate competition in their industry. There are several ways this is routinely accomplished.
Wal Mart is a great example of this. They undercut their prices on everything which is possible in part because of favorable tax rules that they get, but which their competition doesn’t get. At some point, the smaller operations fold because they lose so much business to the giant corporation. Another thing that routinely happens is large corporations will come into “competition” with smaller enterprises, and through many strategies, advertising, proximity, price undercutting, and so on, make the smaller operation unprofitable. When that happens the larger corporation acquires the smaller company and retains the brand name. When companies compete they will try to set themselves apart in the eyes of the consumer, to increase their sales they will make a better product than others, they sell products at lower price, try to provide better services and customer care, try new services to attract customers.