East Extended Essays 2015 21
CHUNG, YESUNG
GUPTA, TARANA
KRISHNAN, ADARSH
Having been living in Singapore for 4 years, I have observed that people in Singapore enjoys movie-going as one of the best leisure activities that enables to eschew from hot weather. Moreover, after learning basic theory of diverse market structures, I was instigated to probe into market structure of Singapore cinema market. Thus, through this essay, I have answered the research question “To what extent does the Singapore cinema industry follow an oligopolistic market structure?” by examining market research.
The Indian Premier League, a comparatively new cricket league, which was established in 2008. This paper aims to compare the IPL to a market and analyze all the teams as different firms that are a part of this market. My research question is: “To what extent is the Indian Premier League representative of an oligopolistic market?” My hypothesis is that there are a few teams that do stand out and provide different and better services than others, suggesting that the league to be a representative of an oligopoly.
This Extended Essay, To what extent do taxi firms price discriminate in Singapore, investigates the phenomenon of Price Discrimination by time and place in relation to taxi services in Singapore. Singapore has public transportation, a substitute to taxis, such as bus and train systems but consumers nevertheless choose to use taxis, a more expensive option. The number of passengers using taxis on a daily basis has increased 16.9% since 2002 and the taxi fleet has increased by 44.9%. This suggests that demand for taxis is met by an increase in supply. It is interesting because consumers indicated they would like to use cheaper modes of transportation, but the demand for taxis still exists and continues to rise. This brings in the idea of an inelasticity of demand for taxis, which is a condition needed for firms to price discriminate.
The scope of this essay is to examine to what extent cinema market in Singapore complies with the characteristics of an oligopoly. I collected primary data by investigating and recording marketing strategy and decision making in each cinema, and conducting a survey of 75 Singaporean residences, focusing on each cinema’s brand loyalty and non-price factors. As for secondary resources, I read the past and current news articles about Singapore cinema market on the Internet websites. Then I researched the features of oligopoly from several economic textbooks to analyze and evaluate my primary data based on secondary resources. I have reached the conclusion that Singapore cinema market operates in an oligopolistic market structure to a great extent. In accordance with the oligopolistic market characteristics, Singapore cinema market manifests the domination of few large firms, homogeneous goods, significant barriers to entry, interdependence, informal collusion of dominant price leadership, and non-price competition.
To support this hypothesis, I have concentrated on comparing few teams against the rest to show that there is a disparity between them in terms of nonprice factors. Primary data was collected in the form of a survey targeted at the fans and an interview with the experts in the field of cricket, such as the CEOs of the teams, to get the public’s opinion and to see whether the characteristics of an oligopoly can be found in the IPL. I also consulted various secondary sources to identify the conduct of the teams and to get branding and viewership figures that give an insight into the popularity and achievements of the teams. The results obtained are then compared to the individual characteristics of an oligopoly in order to prove the IPL to be one. I have concluded that there are certain similarities in the characteristics of an oligopoly and those found amongst teams in the IPL proving the point that the IPL to a large extent is an oligopolistic market. Although the teams may not be as interdependent as firms in an oligopoly might be, the rest of the characteristics such as knowledge, profits etc. do match those of an oligopoly, showing the IPL to be a representative of one.
Operating under an oligopoly, taxi firms in Singapore are price makers, having freedom to set prices at a level they are satisfied with. Taxi firms in Singapore operating under and oligopoly, complemented with an inelasticity of demand for taxis at certain times of the day and in certain locations, there is scope for taxi firms to price discriminate in Singapore. Data was collected through surveys with taxi passengers and taxi drivers and a short interview with an LTA representative. The surveys asked questions to determine the elasticity of demand for taxis in general, but also for the changes in elasticity at certain times or locations, because these are the factors that taxi firms take into account when setting prices and conditions necessary for price discrimination. Data has shown in the past that regardless of an increase in price of taxis, taxi companies’ revenues still continue to rise.