Non-oligopolistic Firms Responding to Market Pressures

The firms cited in this chapter described themselves as setting prices on the basis of market demand, without directly taking into account possible reactions of specific competitors. This does not mean that these firms had large numbers of competitors, but rather that they reportedly did not take the policy of specific other firms into account except as it fed through to them in buyers’ reactions. These firms appeared to have no rigidly set relationship between their prices and those of others that they sought to keep.