I have never had to use this before, but I am running into dead ends. Please help me.
I am working on a essay from questions for school and I need a little help. I have answered most of my paper, but I have 4 that I need help with.
I have chosen Wal-Mart as the company to use in my paper.
1) Is this company operating in a perfectly competitive market? Why or why not?
I believe that this would be no because the prices can change so drasticly due to competition. Is that correct?
2) If the owner of the company asked you to assess whether or not they were using the optimal amount of an input (given a set price for that input), what economic criterion would you use in your analysis?
I am totally lost here. They gave us simulations in class to play with, but I am having trouble understanding how the simulations went along with this question.
3) If you were asked to assess the economic profitability of this company, what economic tools would you use in your analysis?
I am not sure understand what it means by tools. Would this be finacial statements?
4) What is the elasticity of demand for the product (or one of the products) that is produced by the company? Given this elasticity of demand, how should the company price their product in this market? Give justification for your answer.
Would it be strategic pricing to go along with the competition to increase sales?