Respond to the 2 peer responses

Market Structures

Using the company that you have selected for your Assignments, respond to all of the below prompts:

• What market structure does your company exemplify, in your opinion?
• Justify your choice by answering the questions below:
  • What is the approximate number of sellers in your market?
  • What are the barriers entry for new competitors?
  • How much market power does your company possess?
  • How much differentiation is there between the products of your company and those of its competitors? 
• How does your company's market structure impact the options you have for pricing practices? 

peer #!

• What market structure does your company exemplify, in your opinion?
  • Since my organization works within the government specifically the U.S. Navy, the structure it exemplifies the most is a Monopoly. I say monopoly because it is the only organization within the Navy that provides warrior care services besides SOCOM Care Coalition which specifically provides warrior care services to the Special Operations units within the Navy. However, the Navy Wounded Warrior Program is overall responsible (3).
• Justify your choice by answering the questions below:
  • What is the approximate number of sellers in your market?
    • Within the Navy we are exclusive in providing our services. We have no other competitor.
  • What are the barriers entry for new competitors?
    • The main barrier to entry for another program like ours is that they would need to seek congressional approval to operate alongside us. Our organization was created funded and mandated by congress in 2007 as the sole provider of warrior care services and as such, no other program will be created or funded.
  • How much market power does your company possess?
    • We possess 100% of our market.
  • How much differentiation is there between the products of your company and those of its competitors? 
    • Navy Wounded Warrior Program does not compete against other programs within or out of the government therefore we can only differentiate ourselves from how our sister programs are structured. Due to congressional mandate all the services must abide by a single policy guideline. This Instruction provides us with our organizational structure, operations guidelines and dictates our service parameters. 
  • How does your company's market structure impact the options you have for pricing practices? 
    • The annual budget we receive to run yearly operations is fixed and not guided by revenue but by how the federal government is doing. A cut or diversion in military funding may impact programs like ours either negatively or positively.
    • Where pricing practices can affect us is during the annual budget review and cost of maintaining programs like ours. Congress reviews our performance and number of wounded, ill and injured service members we have cared for and based on these and other metrics makes the determination to either increase or decrease our funding.

References:

1. Costs of War retrieved from https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic
2. Department of Defense Recovery Care Coordination Program retrieved from https://warriorcare.dodlive.mil/files/2016/03/DoDI-Recovery-Care-Coordination_1300.24.pdf
3. JWI 515 Week 6 Lecture notes Competition and Pricing Practices.

peer #2

What market structure does your company exemplify, in your opinion?

Verizon Business Markets (VBM) exhibits an oligopolistic market structure. The entity operates in an industry with a handful number of competitors. Such include AT&T, COX, RCN, T-Mobile, and several others (Gara, 2017). As such, VBM and the other competitors exist by offering similar products that are differentiated to give the seller significant competitive advantages. Consumers utilizing the products marketed by the entities in the sector are further price takers (Brock, 2015).

Justify your choice by answering the questions below:

What is the approximate number of sellers in your market?

There are about fifty to one hundred business organizations in the U.S. offering the same products as Verizon Business Markets. The number of frontline players in the industry is, however, smaller than thirty. Such a number is extremely small compared to the millions of Americans and other global markets that the entities serve. A rough estimate of the number supplied by each firm shows that an individual company in this industry thus serves about eleven million consumers. As such, McMurray and Seidenberg’s (2018) argument that Verizon Corporation serves three out of five of the U.S. market means that the organization sells its products and services to about one hundred and ninety Americans, based on the present American population of about 330 million persons (U.S. and World Population Clock, 2020).    

What are the barriers to entry for new competitors?

The American IT sector requires a company to have a significantly larger amount of capital, as well as be in the market for a longer while to enjoy good business. Not many young or small entities can afford such kind of money, hence making it very hard for new entrants in the industry to survive. Other barriers include the need to master the market trends, as well as make continuous innovations to differentiate products (Brock, 2015).

How much market power does your company possess?

Verizon Corporation controls three out of five of the American IT sectors. The organization is the main provider of 4G and 5G networks in the country. Similarly, Verizon Corporation is the owner of the under ocean internet cable that provides internet to the world.

How much differentiation is there between the products of your company and those of its competitors? 

The ability to offer reliable 4G and 5G networks allows Verizon Corporation to control a significant portion of the market. The organization undertakes continuous innovations to serve as the market leader. As well, Verizon Corporation has the VBM division, which markets the company’s products while allowing the other divisions to take care of the innovation bit (McMurray & Seidenberg, 2018). All these make the organization substantially different from competitors.   

How does your company's market structure impact the options you have for pricing practices?

Operating in an oligopolistic market structure allows VBM to have noteworthy freedom to control the prices it charges on its products. However, the point that the other large competitors have the ability to sacrifice high profits to make sales compels VBM to be sensible on the prices it charges (McMurray & Seidenberg, 2018).

References

Brock, J. W. (2015). The Structure of American Industry. Thirteenth Edition. Waveland Press.

Gara, A. (2017). The World's Largest Telecom Companies: AT&T and Verizon Top China Mobile. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20170603114725/https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/05/24/the-worlds-largest-telecom-companies-att-and-verizon-top-china-mobile/#2738a706a452

McMurray, S., & Seidenberg, I. (2018). Verizon untethered: An insider's story of innovation and disruption. New York: Post Hill Press, Los Gatos: Smashwords Edition.

U.S. and World Population Clock (2020). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/popclock/