In this first assignment you are required to work in groups of 4 students. You will explore the characteristics of four different market structures and illustrate each one of them with a case study. The main characteristics explored will be: Pricing Power, Product Substitutes, Number of Sellers, Barriers to Entry and Elasticity of Demand. The analysis of these characteristics will be based on the following market structures: Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly and Perfect Competition. You have to pick a specific industry/company that fits best for each of the four market structures and analyze the main characteristics of that particular market structure. For example, a small wheat farm can illustrate the perfect competition, Cola market is an example of Oligopoly, your favorite restaurant can be considered as part of Monopolistic competition and TTC (Toronto Transit Company) can illustrate a monopoly on transit throughout Toronto. In total, you will analyze four different companies, one for every market structure.

You are required to:

Identify the four market structures.

Analyze the characteristics of the four market structures identified above.

Choose an industry and a company operating in that industry for each market structure and describe the characteristics of that industry.

Analyze how the industry/company chosen explores the characteristic of that particular market structure.