Economics of Globalization: Market Structure and Analysis

This economics assignment delves into the multifaceted aspects of globalization, focusing on market structures, particularly monopolistic competition, and its implications on firms' decision-making. The assignment explores various concepts, including product differentiation, market segmentation, and the factors influencing demand, such as price, income, and competitor strategies. It analyzes cost functions, including total, variable, and marginal costs, to determine optimal output and pricing strategies. Furthermore, it examines scenarios where firms might shut down operations and strategies to increase profitability, such as innovation and market expansion. The assignment also includes calculations of profit maximization based on demand functions and provides insights into both short-run and long-run profit scenarios. Overall, the document offers a comprehensive overview of the economic principles at play in a globalized market.

Running Head: ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
Economics of Globalization
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
Table of Contents
Answer 1..........................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 3..........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 4..........................................................................................................................................7
Answer 5..........................................................................................................................................8
Answer 6........................................................................................................................................11
Answer 7........................................................................................................................................13
Reference list.................................................................................................................................14

2ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
Answer 1
In the past few years, use of microwave has increased rapidly. In the fast growing world,
people have less time to spend on kitchen. With increasing earnings, people are now optimally
allocate their time. In microwave, foods are prepared with a much less time. A variety of food
can be prepared in microwave. With increasing use of microwave, it has become a vital kitchen
appliance (Pitchai et al.,2016). The increased use of microwave raises the demand for
microwaveable food as well. People has also become increasingly health conscious and is
looking for healthy food option. With presence of so many firms in the industry, the market
structure takes forms of perfectly competitive market as assumed in the previous assignment.
However, with changing market scenario the low-calorie frozen microwaveable food industry
has characteristic similar to monopolistic competition. It is a form of imperfectly competitive
market that has characteristic of both competitive and monopoly market (Chugh &
Shapiro,2017). The competitive characteristic is found in the presence of considerably large
number of buyers and sellers. The difference with competitive market is that unlike perfect
competition sellers do not sell a homogenous product. With objective of capturing a greater
market share, they differentiate their product as much as possible (Kirzner, 2015). Product
differentiation is one of the key features of monopolistic competition. Each sellers is the owner
of its own brand and takes monopoly decision regarding their own product. The major brands in
the low calorie microwaveable food industry are Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and others (Bui,
Kemp & Hamilton, 2015). As the low calorie microwaveable food industry has characteristics of
monopolistically competitive market, the market plan or business strategy is to made keeping
resembles with this form of market.

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In imperfectly competitive markets, seller optimize their interest using the market power
they have enjoyed. The information of elasticity is helpful in developing a suitable business plan.
Demand of low calorie frozen microwaveable firm depends on price of own product, price of
competitors product, Income per capita and number of microwave sold. Apart from own price,
the price set by competitors is important in determining demand. In monopolistic competition,
presence of substitute is very important. Before determining own price, the firm should consider
its competitors product (Iyer & Church, 2018). In order to maximize sales volume, the firm
should target specific consumer group by segmenting the market according to preferences and
other attributes. Location and economic status of customers are two important aspects of market
segmentation. Buyers differs in terms of their behavioral pattern. Customers have different
preference for brands, different buying frequency for products in the industry (Haaland &
Venables, 2016). The specific characteristic of the market, preferences of buyers, nature and
price of competitors’ product all should be considered while designing business plan.
Answer 2
Several factor causes a change in the market structure. Number of sellers and their market
power vary in different market structure. Monopolistically competitive firms takes different
strategies to differentiate their product. Some firms may capture a much larger share than its
competitor does. As firms go bigger, the market power is concentrated in the hands of large
firms. The dominance of few large would transform the structure of the market to an
oligopolistic market from the initial monopolistic structure (Parenti et al., 2017). The presence of
few dominating firms is one factor that causes that change in the market framework. In the
oligopoly market, firms always keep a close look at its competitor’s strategy, price and
introduction of new products. The firms usually follows strategy of its competitors. When firms

4ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
compete in terms of price, the all the firms experience a reduction in their product (Zhou et al.,
2014). The price competition is one feature of oligopolistic market. In the monopolistically
competitive market, firms do not involve in price competition. They mostly compete with
product differentiation and innovation.
A number of factors affect demand for low calorie frozen microwaveable food demand.
As obtained in assignment 1, price, income, advertisement, price of related products are some
factors influencing demand.
Answer 3
Production cost plays an important role in decision making of the firms. Cost are
categorized in two groups depending on span of operation. In the short run, there are both fixed
cost and variable cost. However, in the long-run all inputs being variable there is only variable
cost of production (Varian, 2014). Firms in the monopolistic competition in the short run charges
price greater than marginal cost. This yields profit in the short run. In the industry, there are no
barriers to entry. Attracted by short-term profit, new firms enter in the industry causing a decline
in price. Free entry and exit in the market leads to fluctuations in demand and prices and firms’
decision. However, in the long-run firms profit is always maximized where marginal cost equals
marginal revenue. In the long-run firms only attains a normal profit and price is set where
demand equals average total cost (Moulin, 2014). Therefore, a well-defined cost function is
needed to evaluate firms’ decision-making behavior. For a firm, to continue its operation average
variable cost should be covered both in the short run and in the long-run.
The total cost, variable cost and marginal cost function is given as follows
Total Cost (TC) = 160,000,000 + 100Q + 0.0063212Q2

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Variable Cost (VC) = 100Q + 0.0063212Q2
Marginal Cost (MC) = 100 + 0.0126424Q
Firms has to incur both fixed and variable cost in the short run. In the short run, set up of the firm
requires investment on several fixed input and hence has a relatively large fixed cost. Variable
costs arise from investment in variable factors. However, in the long run firms only need to
spend on variable factors and hence, there is only variable cost in the long-run.
Therefore, short run cost = 160,000,000 + 100Q + 0.0063212Q2; Where 160,000,000 is fixed
cost and 100Q + 0.0063212Q2 is variable cost.
Long run Cost = 100Q + 0.0063212Q2
In order to use this information for decision making of the firm, marginal cost is needed.
Marginal cost measures change in the total cost following a change in unit change in output.
Given, Marginal Cost (MC) = 100 + 0.0126424Q
The average total cost is obtained from dividing total cost by level of output.
Average Total Cost ( ATC ) = TC
Q
¿ 160,000,000
Q + 100Q
Q + 0 . 0063212Q2
Q
¿ 160,000,000
Q +100+0 . 0063212 Q
Using the average total cost and marginal cost firms can determine optimum price and output.
The relation between average total cost and marginal cost suggests that Marginal cost equals

6ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
average total cost at its minimum point (Frank, 2015). Therefore, by equating marginal cost and
average cost long run price and output is obtained. This is shown below.
ATC=MC
Or, 160,000,000
Q +100+0 . 0063212 Q=¿100 + 0.0126424Q
Or, 160,000,000
Q +100−100=0 . 0126424 Q−0 .0063212 Q
Or, 160,000,000
Q =0 .00632121 Q
Or, Q2= 160,000,000
0 . 00632121
Or,Q2=25311649687
Or, Q= √ 25311649687
Or, Q=159096 . 3535 Units
The optimum output is obtained as 159096.3535. Corresponding to this output level the values of
average total cost and average variable cost is computed as
ATC=160,000,000
Q +100+0 . 0063212Q
¿ 160,000,000
159096 .3535 +100+ ( 0 . 0063212∗159096 . 3535 )
¿ 1005 . 67987+100+1005 .67897
¿ 2111 .34 Units

7ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
AVC= TVC
Q
¿ 100Q+0 . 006321 Q2
Q
¿ 100+0 . 006321Q
¿ 100+ ( 0 . 0063212∗159096 . 3535 )
¿ 100+1005 . 67897
¿ 1105 . 68 Units
Answer 4
There are times where firms take the decision to close down operation. In most of the
cases it is the inability of the firms to recover cost in the long run. In the short run, even when
firms are unable to recover average total cost completely, they do not close down plants as long
as variable cost is recovered (Mankiw, 2014). Once price reaches to the level where it is not
possible to recover the variable cost firms shut down its operation. In the competitive market,
cost is the only factor that causes shut down of firms. However, for an imperfectly competitive
market several factors are there on which firms should look after. For a monopolistic competitive
firm, innovation plays an important role in differentiating product. Firms unable to invest in
innovation fail to compete in the marketplace (Chen, Zhang & Ngan, 2016). Innovation needs
huge investment. In case firm is unable to bear such cost close its operations. If for any reason
supply of inputs are interrupted, then firms are unable to continue operation. Presence of
economies of scale is an important feature of monopolistic competition. The firm might shut
down once its unable to expand production scale due to lack of capital.

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It is the responsibility of management to look after several aspects important for firms’
production. The management should ensure that firms can cover average variable cost during its
operation. The management should design strategy based on competitor’s price and output. To
solve the problem of interrupted supply of raw materials the firm should establish contact with
more than one suppliers instead of relying on a single one (Arrow, 2015). Also, the company
should have a steady flow of capital to finance innovation and other expenses.
Answer 5
Firms in monopolistic competition aims at maximizing profit. The profit maximizing
price is set by balancing marginal revenue and marginal cost (Stoneman, Bartoloni & Baussola,
2018). Demand function of the low calorie frozen microwaveable food firm is estimated as
QD=−5200−42 P+0 . 20 A +20 Px +5 .2 I+0 .25 M
QD = Quantity demanded
Px (in cent) =Price of leading competitor’s product; Given Px = 600
A (in dollars) = Monthly advertising expenditure; given A=$10,000
P (in cent) = Price of the product; Given P= 500
I (in dollars) = Per capita income of the standard metropolitan statistical areas located around the
supermarkets; Given Y= $ 5,500
M= Number of microwave ovens sold in SMSA, where the supermarket located; given M= 5,000
Putting the value of all other factors except price, the demand function is obtained as
QD=−5200−42 P+20 Px +5 . 2Y +0 . 20 A +0 . 25 M

9ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
¿−5200− ( 42∗P ) + ( 20∗600 ) + ( 5 . 2∗5,500 ) + ( 0 . 20∗10,000 ) +(0 .25∗5,000)
¿−5200−42 P+12000+28600+2000+ 1250
¿−42 P+38,650
Using the direct demand function, the inverse demand function needs to be derived to obtain
price as a function of quantity.
Inverse demand function
Q=−42 P+ 38,650
¿ , 42 P=38,650−Q
¿ , P= 38,650−Q
42
¿ , P=920 . 2380952−0 . 0238095 Q
After obtaining the inverse demand function it is now possible to determine total and
marginal revenue as a function of quantity.
Total Revenue ( TR )=Price∗Quantity
Hence,
TR=¿(920 . 2380952−0 . 0238095 Q¿∗Q
¿ 920 . 2380952Q−0 . 0238095 Q2
Marginal Revenue (MR)¿ dTR
dQ

10ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
MR= d (920 . 2380952Q−0 .0238095 Q2 )
dQ
¿ 920 . 2380852−0 . 0476190 Q
At profit maximizing level,
MR = MC
¿ , 920 . 2380852−0 . 0476190Q=¿100 + 0.0126424Q
¿ , 820 . 2380852=0 . 0602614 Q
¿ , Q= 830 . 2380852
0 .0602614
Or, Q=13611 . 32412 ~ 13611 Units
From the inverse demand function price is obtained as
P=920 .2380952−0 .0238095 Q
¿ 920 . 2380952− ( 0 . 0238095∗13611 . 32412 )
¿ 920 . 2380952−¿324.0788216
¿ 596 . 1592736 ~ 596
When the market structure was perfectly competitive then equilibrium price is estimated as
$384.5 and that of competitive output is 22501. Under monopolistic competition price increases
to $596 while output now reduces to 13611 units. This shows how change in market structure
enable firms to charge a high price for a low quantity of output as compared to perfect
competition.

11ECONOMICS OF GLOBALIZATION
Answer 6
Profit is an important indicator of financial performances. Both short run and long run
scenario should be considered to get an overall idea of the firm’s performance (Hill & Schiller,
2015).
Profit in the short run is computed as
Profit=Total Revenue−Total Cost
The estimated total revenue and total cost are
TR=920 .2380952 Q−0 . 02 38095Q2
¿ ( 920 . 2380952∗13611 .32412 ) − ( 0 . 0238095∗13611 .324122 )
¿ 12525658 . 98−4411141. 882=8114517. 1
TC =160,000,000+100 Q+ 0 . 0063212Q2
¿ 160,000,000+ ( 100∗13611. 32412 ) +(0 . 0063212∗13611 . 324122)
= 162532249.4
Surplus obtained by the producer is Total revenue less total variable cost
TR=P∗Q
= ( 596 . 1592736∗13611 . 32412 )
= 8114517.098
TVC = 100Q + 0.0063212Q2
= ( 100∗13611. 32412 ) + (0 . 0063212∗13611 .324122 )