微观经济学 第9章 组织生产.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Can the market be defined by geography? by demography? by substitutability? Emphasize that attempts by economists to identify the market for a particular firm’s product is not at all easy. Geography: the (expanding) market for beer. In the early 20th century, a market for any given brand of beer was largely limited to the geographic area within a days’ truck drive from the brewery—if the beer traveled for too long under too high an ambient temperature, the trip ruined the product. When technological advances in mobile refrigeration made transporting beer over the road economical, local monopoly brands suddenly felt the pain of competition from out-of-state brands that had never before been observed in the local market. Demography: the (hidden) market for cigarettes. Can you define the market for a cigarette manufacturer by looking only at the market among adults? What if mostly illegal, under-aged smokers favored the brand rather than adult smokers? The sales to minors would not likely be recorded, yet it represents market share. Substitutability: the (changing) market for personal transportation. Can you define the market for personal transportation? Twenty-five years ago it meant just the market for cars. Today, if we wanted to determine the market share for an auto manufacturer that happens to only sell cars, would the definition of the market for personal (as opposed to commercial) transportation include only cars? Or should trucks, mini-vans and SUVs be included as well? How about motorcycles? The World Wide Web of business. Conclude the discussion of market definition by mentioning how today, items can be produced anywhere in the world and can be discovered and ordered from anywhere else in the world using the World Wide Web. These items can be paid for through electronic accounts located only in cyber-space, and the product can be shipped literally overnight to nearly any city in any developed country around the world. S