A monopoly (1) exists when there is a sole supplier (2) of a good or service. In this type of market (3) there is an absence of competition (4) - there are no competitors (5). Examples of monopoly can be found in the markets for electricity (6), rail transport and postal services. All these are supplied by publicly – owned industries (7) which have monopoly powers (8). In theory, monopoly means that there is only one supplier of a particular good or service. A monopolist (9) supplies the total market (10).
A monopolist, therefore, does not have to worry about the prices charged by (11) competitors, because there are no competitors. A monopoly is free to set either the price (12) of its product or the quantity it wishes to sell.
The government can grant monopoly powers (13) to a firm by making it illegal (14) for other firms to enter the industry (15). Most of the nationalized industries (16) are legal monopolies (17). The law can also grant the holders of patents (18) the sole right to supply (19) the products they have patented (20).
Fierce competition (21) will drive the weaker and less efficient firms out of an industry (22). It is possible that, eventually, one firm could come to dominate a whole industry.
When an industry is made up of a few relatively large firms, a series of mergers (23) or take-overs (24) could lead to a monopoly situation.
A cartel (25) is created when the individual firms in an industry make an agreement (26) to restrict their outputs to some agreed amounts (27), and to charge a common price (28). The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a form of cartel, and so is the Milk Marketing Board in the UK.
Where the workable deposits (29) of certain minerals are concentrated in a particular region, the owners of such deposits will have considerable monopoly power. This is the case with gold deposits in South Africa.
1.монополія; 2. єдиний постачальник; 3. тип ринку; 4. відсутність конкуренції; 5. конкуренти; 6. ринок електрики; 7. державні галузі;
8. мати монопольну владу; 9. монополіст; 10. здійснювати постачання для всього ринку; 11. призначений; 12. призначати ціну; 13. надавати монопольну владу; 14. забороняти; 15. вступ до галузі; 16. націоналізовані галузі; 17. законні монополії; 18. власники патентів; 19. виняткове право на постачання; 20. запатентувати; 21. запекла конкуренція; 22. витиснути з галузі; 23. злиття; 24. поглинання; 25. картель; 26. укладати угоду; 27. обмежувати випуск своєї продукції до певного узгодженого обсягу; 28. призначати загальну ціну; 29. рентабельні родовища.
Exercise 11A. Translate the following words and word combinations into Ukrainian.
1.monopoly; 2. to charge a common price; 3. take-over; 4. monopolist; 5. the sole right to supply; 6. to make an agreement; 7. an absence of competition; 8. to drive a firm out of an industry; 9. workable deposit; 10. merger; 11. to have monopoly power; 12. a sole supplier of a good or service; 13. competitor; 14. fierce competition; 15. to restrict the outputs to some agreed amounts; 16. cartel; 17. to dominate a whole industry; 18. to patent a product; 19. to grant monopoly powers; 20. legal monopoly; 21. holders of patents; 22. to make it illegal for other firms to enter the industry; 23. to set the price; 24. prices charged by competitors; 25. to supply the total market; 26. publicly-owned industries; 27. market for electricity; 28. type of market.
Exercise 11B. Translate the following words and word combinations into English.
1.злиття; 2. укласти угоду; 3. монополіст; 4. конкурент; 5. законна монополія; 6. картель; 7. заборонити вступ до галузі інших фірм; 8. виняткове право напостачання; 9. надавати фірмі монопольної влади; 10. обмежити випуск своєї продукції до певних узгоджених обсягів; 11. 11.домінувати в цілій галузі; 12. монополія; 13. єдиний постачальник товару чи послуги; 14. рентабельне родовище; 15. мати монопольну владу; 16. запекла конкуренція; 17. призначати загальну ціну; 18. призначати ціну; 19. відсутність конкуренції; 20. запатентувати продукт; 21. поглинання; 22. ціни, що їх призначають конкуренти;
23. витискати фірму з галузі; 24. ринок електрики; 25. власники патентів; 26. державні галузі.
Exercise 11C. Choose the necessary word from the brackets and fill it in the blanks of the text below and then translate into Ukrainian. (investment, fail, join, gurus, consultants, succeed, richer, deal, prudent, merge, stockmarket, buyer, value, fizz, urge).
Reach for the safety-pins and the sewing thread: companies are _____(1) together as never before. Mergers last year were worth 50% more than in 1997 and more than twice as much as in 1996. The year ended in the crescendo of the Exxon-Mobil $80 billion ______(2). This year, if the _____(3) continues to _______(4), may see the first $100 billion merger.
Heady stuff, to be sure; yet there is one big oddity about this renewed ______(5) to ______(6). Repeated analyses by business ______(7), management _______(8) and ______(9) bankers have all reached the same conclusion: in the medium term, fewer than half of all mergers add ______(10). The shareholders whose company is bought end up ______(11); the shareholders of the ______(12) seldom do. For today’s companies, the moral is not that merging is always wrong, but that it is risky. How, the
_____(13) boss should ask, can we be one of the minority that ______(14), rather than of the majority that ______(15)?
