oligopoly
/ˌɒlɪˈɡɒp(ə)li
/noun (plural oligopolies)
A state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.With limited competition, or oligopolies, the various players within a particular industry will most likely have different cost structures....
- For the rest of the farming community, the future is precarious, with economic independence destroyed by market oligopolies, and by the decline in flexibility and choice which this entails.
- Mr Mosho said that commercial banks might be colluding making the market into an oligopoly with little benefit to the consumers.
Derivatives
oligopolist
/ noun ...- Price wars between oligopolists can be very expensive to participants, so there is a tendency to find alternative ways to compete for customers, such as free gifts, coupons, added value offers, and sponsorship activities.
- The legal confrontation will pit a small group of powerful, technophobic oligopolists against a hip, youthful army of digital sophisticates - who are the very heart of the companies' consumer base.
- The transformation of Electricité de France and its sister company Gaz de France from state-owned monopolists to state-controlled oligopolists is at last under way.
oligopolistic
- The market imperfections model offers a varied approach which explains the firm's motives for engaging in international business activities under monopolistic and oligopolistic market structures.
- Markets are most likely to be oligopolistic where economies of scale are significant, for example oligopoly is typical of oil refining and distribution, pharmaceuticals, car manufacturing, and detergents.
- Like all cartels, the IMF uses its oligopolistic power to pursue political objectives.
Origin
Late 19th century: from oligo- 'small number', on the pattern of monopoly.
Rhymes
- rehypothecate
- rehypothecation
- Reich
- Reich chancellor
- Reichert
- Reichian
- Reich minister
- Reichsbank
- Reichsbanner
- Reichschancellery
- Reichs chancellery
- Reichschancellor
- Reichschancellory
- reichs-dollar
- Reichsfuehrer
- Reichsführer
- Reichskanzler
- Reichsmark
- Reichsmarschall
- Reichsmarshal
- Reichsminister
- Reichsrat
- Reichsrath
- Reichstag
- Reichstag building