Ossih Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) Hi guys! I'm doing my economics extended essay. My research question is, "To what extent is the market structure of supermarkets in Doha an oligopoly?" I wanted to clear up some approaches I had to the question. First off, there are two main supermarket chains in Doha, Carrefour and Lulu (technically they're hypermarkets but yeah). There's also a government co-op that has a large chain but really is visited for low cost items, it's called Al Meera. Then there are like 3 Family Food Centres, which is another low cost chain. Then there are some singular supermarkets. And then there are a bunch of small supermarkets, like for every small neighbourhood. They're quite small and are only visited for small things. My first question is, what do I focus on in my essay? I'd love to do just Carrefour and Lulu, but I think Al Meera and FFC are much smaller but still sizeable. Second, what kind of data do I gather? Oligopolies tend to be characterized by price rigidity. Should I create a basket of 4 random goods and see how the prices change each week for each store? Also, how can I get concentration ratio data? Can I use a different measure for it? Could I also investigate the existence of a price leader? Carrefour has an erm, line that says, "If you find the same product for cheaper, we'll refund 10 times the difference". Can I use this as proof of interdependence of the firms? I have a lot of questions haha, and any responses to any of them would be amazing. Edit: I could also do surveys about brand loyalty, although is that relevant for an oligopoly? And I could talk about non-price competition (Lulu offers credit cards and loyalty points) Edited July 9, 2014 by Ossih 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
senortia2009 Posted July 19, 2014 Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 Hi, Even I m doing it in Gurgaon region of India same topic. Can u please help me what questionnaire we can prepare I m really confused. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yagna Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 (edited) Hey Ossih,I'm Yagna from India and am doing my extended essay on a similar kind of topic. (Rest of message deleted) Edited August 19, 2014 by yii yann "Sharing of ideas on a similar topic" is going to lead to plagiarism, and consequently a noticeable lack of an IB diploma. Please avoid this. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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