A 1964 study of the broiler chicken processing industry showed that "processing costs decreased continually with output size, but after 10 million birds per year the decrease was small." Researchers concluded from the study that "an output of 10 million birds per year, representing 0.33 percent of 1969 broiler production, captured most of the efficiencies." A more recent study concluded that "a technically efficient and cost-effective processing plant should process 8,400 birds per hour. Expanding this processing rate to an annual production volume results in an estimated MES (minimum efficient scale) value of 0.4 percent of the market."

• Do these results show that competition among a large number of plants and firms in the broiler chicken industry is possible? Explain.