Discussion

Oligopoly

1. You are a CEO of an athletic shoe firm in an oligopolistic market. Your job is to maximize the profits of your firm. To this end, you have to simultaneously expand and protect your market share (focus on market share protection). Given what you know about oligopolistic behavior, look over the new strategy of a rival firm and describe how you would counter a rival's strategy (counter your own as the rival strategy).

Example:

New Strategy (posted by you): Yahoo News has discovered that Quasar Athletic Shoe Company has signed international soccer star, David Beckham, to a 1-year, $20 million mega endorsement contract. The first television and print ads featuring Mr. Beckham will hit the market in 9-12 months.

Post #1 (posted by rival): Counter Strategy: I would counter my rival's new, celebrity-endorsed, advertising with ads of my own that show a "before and after" phenomenon. The "before" part of the ad would show ordinary people playing soccer badly. Then, the commercial would cut to a scene where the ordinary players are putting on my company's shoes. Then the "after" shot would be of professionals, whose heads have been digitally replaced with the heads of the ordinary players, making spectacular plays.