• Ознакомительное чтение

Текст 2.2 «Market competition»

(1) When two or more businesses sell the same good or service, they are said to be competing for the same market. Market competition thus can be defined as rivalry between two or more parties striving for the same customers and their money, as well as the ability to influence the price and/or quantity of the good sold in a given market.

(2) The whole point of competing is to be better than one’s rivals. In a competitive market, sellers compete with other sellers trying to find ways to get you to choose them and make you part with your money; buyers compete with other buyers trying to choose where to spend their money in the best possible way.

(3) The intensity, character, and particular forms of market competition between buyers and sellers are largely dependent on a number of factors, the most important of which are:

• the number of competitors operating in the market;

• the quality and type of goods supplied/sold;

• total market demand for a good or service;

• available information on prices and technology;

• natural or artificial barriers preventing potential competitors from entering the market.

(4) The ability to influence the price and/or quantity of the good sold is called market control or market power. The extent or amount of market control by a firm depends largely on the number of competitors in the market: more competitors mean less market control for each firm; fewer competitors mean greater market control for each firm.

(5) A firm that possesses so little market control that it has no ability to affect the price of the good is called a price taker, while a firm that possesses sufficient market control that it has the ability to affect the price of the good is called a price maker.

(6) Market competition is characteristic of certain regularities or “laws”. Some of them are as follows:

• The more sellers, the more competition to offer a good for sale.

• The more buyers, the more competition to acquire a good offered for sale.

• Less competition among sellers than among buyers lets the sellers charge higher prices.

• Conversely, less competition among buyers than among sellers lets the buyers pay lower prices.

• More competition means less market control; conversely, more market control means less competition.

(7) Competition can lead to both beneficial and detrimental results. For example, competition among sellers is supposed to lead to lower prices, better quality, and more new products and services, while less competition among sellers is likely to lead, conversely, to higher prices, poorer quality, and fewer new products and services.

(8) In modern societies competition is organized within the framework of almost universally accepted rules. These rules are generally intended to ensure that businesses do not employ unfair tactics, as well as to prevent individual firms from having excessive market power, and to avoid violence in between firms in their rivalry against each other.

Задания к тексту 2.2:

1. Прочтите текст 2.2, стараясь понять его основное содержание. Составьте развернутый план текста. При необходимости, ключевые для понимания общего содержания текста и составления плана текста незнакомые слова и выражения выпишите и запомните их значения.

Форма контроля степени усвоения лексико-грамматического материала, необходимого для понимания основного содержания текста – компьютерный тест. Образец тестового задания к текстам для ознакомительного чтения см. на примере текста 1.2 выше.