Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 22

AT LARGE
software or computer purchases.
The most evident oligopolies are
airlines, banks, pharmaceutical makers,
cellphone makers and services, food
producing corporations, energy companies, oil companies, auto makers,
cable television, computer and software producers, and entertainment
production companies. Thus, if you
buy soda, eat potato chips, own a cellphone, search Google, fly commercial
airlines, have health insurance or
watch movies, you're being influenced
by oligopolistic schemes.
The mechanisms for oligopolistic
control are that a small group of
such firms sells either homogeneous
products (metals, e.g., aluminum,
copper, steel or precious metals) or
heterogeneous products (airline
tickets, potato chips, phones) to a
large buying populace. The control

22

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

DECEMBER 2017

dynamic is that few sellers exist in a
sizable market, so they, as a power
group, dominate the market, create
barriers to their competition and
control prices, all legally and sans
express collusion.
In their book Economics, authors
R. Glenn Hubbard and Anthony P.
O'Brien said that oligopolies take
advantage of anything that keeps
new firms from entering an industry.
They noted that scale - the lesser
costs of high-volume production -
is an effective barrier because new
firms generally have higher costs
than established, high-volume firms.
Other barriers are gained through
lobbying for government regulations,
patent controls, technology licensing
and supporting massive advertising
programs.
PR Newswire, in a Sept. 21 Research

and Markets Metal Organics Compound (MO) report on sources for
trimethyl, gallium, trimethyl indium
and other materials, said that the
related global industry "presents an
oligopoly pattern due to high technical barriers." The report named
the key producers as DOW (US)
Merck (Germany), AKZO Nobel
(Netherlands), Nata Opto-electronic
(China) and Ube Industries (Japan).
The report noted that over 80% of
MO's are used in LED lamps.
Important here is to recognize that
oligopolies are so huge and widespread that there's no escape in
dealing with them, like my having to
buy Sprite instead of the ginger ale
I wanted. However, as a parry, you
might sometimes try buying outside
the popular circle because of potentially better quality and service.


http://www.stamm-mfg.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - December 2017

Signs of the Times - December 2017
Contents
From the Editor
St Update
At Large
Tech Review
Vehicles + Vinyl
Design Matters
Nuts + Bolts
An Overarching Theme
The Value of Signs
Going With the Flow
Design Software
New Products
Advertising Index
Last Look
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Intro
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - BB1
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - BB2
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Signs of the Times - December 2017
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - BD_L
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - BD
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Cover2
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 1
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 2
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 3
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Contents
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 5
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 6
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 7
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 8
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 9
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - From the Editor
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 11
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - St Update
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 13
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 14
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 15
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 16
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 17
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 18
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 19
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - At Large
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 21
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 22
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 23
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Tech Review
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 25
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Vehicles + Vinyl
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 27
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 28
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 29
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Design Matters
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 31
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Nuts + Bolts
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 33
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 34
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 35
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 36
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 37
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - An Overarching Theme
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 39
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 40
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 41
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - The Value of Signs
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 43
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 44
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 45
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Going With the Flow
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 47
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Design Software
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 49
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 50
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 51
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - New Products
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 53
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 54
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 55
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 56
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 57
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 58
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 59
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 60
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 61
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 62
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 63
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 64
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 65
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 66
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 67
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 68
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 69
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 70
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 71
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 72
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 73
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 74
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 75
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 76
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 77
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 78
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Advertising Index
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Last Look
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Cover3
Signs of the Times - December 2017 - Cover4
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