Bread Price-Fixing Assignment | Homework for You
Bread price-fixing In December2017, it was revealed that seven of the largest bread-making or bread-selling companies in Canada were allegedly involved in a price-fixing scheme to falsely inflate the price of bread. Loblaws, one of those charged, agreed to provide information in return for lenient treatment. Loblaws also offered customers a $25 gift card to apologize. What is happening with this story now? How are consumers reacting to this? Why is it illegal in the first place? What types of responses have bread companies made?
a)Explain this business issue: what happened? how long did it go on? who was involved, and what was the impact on the Canadian consumer?
b)Analyze:what course concepts apply?
Suggestions:
•free market competition & equilibrium price
•collusion / consumer rights
•public relations and crisis management
•other?•
Market economy, competition and equilibrium price: why is competition is important in a free-market economy? What rules govern ethical behaviour here?Legal behaviour?
•Marketing/public relations/crisis management:What is happening for customers? What kind of feedback is there about the $25 gift certificate? As an attempt to calm customers, did Loblaw’s action work? What are consumer protection groups saying? What about the other bread companies involved?
•Socially responsible business/consumer rights/collusion:given what we learned about social responsibility, what can you say about this situation?
•Other?
Jumping-Off Information Source:
so we were taught about these things in this see if this helps:-
course concepts
· Perfect vs. Oligopoly Competition: Many sellers; product is basically identical. Relatively easy to enter the industry. Individual firms have no control over price.
· Oligopoly Competition: A few large suppliers dominate. Higher barriers to entry. Products are seen as similar. Prices gravitate toward a common “market price”
What if this ‘common’ market price these large corporations are supposedly gravitating towards is fixed?
Promoting Competition
· Government as a Regulator/ Taxation Agent
· Protecting Consumers – Customer and Corporate Affairs Canada Administer
· External Environment: Factors beyond the organization’s boundaries that cannot be controlled (i.e. competition)
