For my fifth assignment, I answered the question of what is an oligopoly. Following the previous works, I want viewers to understand the kind of media market and key concepts of the economy with the use of fine art. Disney Company is a large focus on this case studies along with its competitors and cooperators.

 

Few major sellers is a key characteristic of oligopoly, which I present in the first cartoon. I used a pie chart to show the market share of ninety percent of all media among the companies. In 1983, ninety percent of the market was owned by fifty companies, compared to in 2012, when ninety percent of the media is controlled by six conglomerates.

 

In the second cartoon, I show the intense competition between companies in oligopoly. They sell similar products like movies and parks (homogenous products), and they try to win over each other for the same group of consumers. In the marketing process, advertisements, selling and differentiated products become a large part of the company’s focus. Same to all the companies in monopolistic competition, both Disney and Comcast are trying to increase market share and profits, with advertising and differentiated products.

 

In the third cartoon with the castle and the door, I show one of the most discernible natures of oligopoly: high barriers to entry. All the small media companies (depicted as purple and black men) are trying to climb on the high mountain to compete with Disney Company. However as the barrier to entry is set high, many failed in the process and even if someone made it at the end, he cannot pass through the closed door and is shut down from the fun of media because he alone is too weak to gain profits along with big companies. Who is behind the barrier? Who directly or indirectly makes the barrier to entry the market high? It is the conglomerates that pushed against rivalries from entering. With all the advantages, like legal and government barriers, economies of scale, first mover, brand loyalty that are depicted as fireworks, many conglomerates like Disney Company, not only in the media industry, block new competitors and created a fantastic fantasy much more accessible and fascinating. With the support of abundant resources, companies like Disney Company have, to some degree, unfair advantage over incomer, as they can afford to conduct vertical integration, which is the combination of multiple stages of production normally operated by separate companies.

 

The fourth cartoon shows an interesting phenomenon in oligopolies. Sometimes those major price makers do not only compete with each other, often in time, but also they choose to cooperate in order to reach optimal profits for all. They do not want perfect competition or to be a price taker. They want to maintain their marketing power as price makers. In the cartoon, Mickey mouse, represent Disney Company are having meetings with other gib media companies like EG, Warner Brother, CBC, Viacom, and News Corp. All of them sit around the table of Group Behavior with their young babies by their side.