Active learning ideas
Most real-world businesses fall into the categories of Imperfect Competition or Oligopoly. This topic explores how firms like supermarkets, banks, and tech giants actually operate. Students investigate monopolistic competition, where many firms sell similar but differentiated products (like hair salons or restaurants), and oligopoly, where a few large firms dominate and are highly interdependent.
Activity 01
Groups research the market share of Tesco, Dunnes, SuperValu, Aldi, and Lidl in Ireland. They identify how these firms compete using things other than price (e.g., vouchers, quality, Irish-sourced labels).
What characterises an oligopolistic market?
Activity 02
Small groups represent mobile networks. They must secretly decide to 'raise prices' or 'keep prices low.' If they all raise, they profit; if one 'cheats' and lowers, they steal the market. This demonstrates interdependence.
How do firms use non-price competition?
Activity 03
Students choose two similar products (e.g., Nike vs. generic runners). They discuss why one can charge more and how 'product differentiation' creates a mini-monopoly for the brand.
What is the impact of collusion on consumers?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Oligopolies always collude to keep prices high.
While possible, collusion is illegal and often unstable because firms have an incentive to 'cheat' for more market share. Using game theory simulations helps students see why firms often end up in price wars instead.
Monopolistic competition is the same as a monopoly.
The 'monopolistic' part only refers to brand loyalty; the 'competition' part means there are many rivals. Sorting local businesses into these categories helps students distinguish between the two.
Methods used in this brief
Costs, Revenues, and Profits
Examination of the short-run and long-run costs of production, revenue curves, and the concept of profit maximisation.
8 methodologies
Perfect Competition and Monopoly
A comparative study of perfect competition and monopoly market structures, focusing on barriers to entry and price determination.
8 methodologies