Major Industry That Is Referenced in the Npr

The major industry that is referenced in the NPR’s audio broadcast and transcript is the automobile industry. This industry’s market structure would be an example of a differentiated oligopoly. This industry is a differentiated oligopoly because there are different corporations, such as GM, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and Ford, that sell similar products or cars but each has different makes, models and other features. The barriers to entry in this industry is relatively high due to the high capitol and the already existing competition. Advertising also plays a role. Since oligopolies do not gain much from their price completion, they use the non-price competition approach. They advertise their cars on TV, the radio, billboards, and methods to attract buyers and increase their market shares. “Oligopolists emphasize nonprice competition because (a) advertising and product variations are less easy for rivals to match and (b) oligopolists frequently have ample resources to finance nonprice competition.” (Bruce, 2014, p. 227)

Being that there are not many companies in the automobile industry, this gives the ones that are in the industry an advantage. But this can have negative impact on them as well. Because there are few competitors, the competition amongst them are high. Advertising can affect the buyer’s preferences in favor of the advertiser’s product. Take for example the Chevy Equinox commercial, this commercial is persuading buyers to buy their midsize SUV because you can take it anywhere and fit almost anything in the truck even a sousaphone.

The same way the auto industry use advertisements to increase their market shares, the hospital industry does the same. Patients can be influenced by hospital advertising. They will more than likely select a particular hospital after seeing the advertisement on TV or on a billboards.

The airline industry is very similar to the automobile industry. The market structure that was illustrated in the broadcast and transcript was an oligopoly. This industry consists mainly of four large companies: American, United, Southwest, and Delta. These four companies make up about 80% or more of the profits for the airline industry.

The main key point of the broadcast and the reading is collusion. “It is believed that airline companies are colluding to limit the number of available flights