The role that Competition authorities may play in correcting market Essay

The role that Competition authorities may play in correcting market failures and facilitate competition - Essay Example Moreover, with the promulgation of more liberal trade, consumers can now enjoy better deals from various producers as the myriad of local and international firms increasingly compete on the basis of better pricing and more quality. Moreover, as more and more firms enter the market, companies are really forced to innovate in order to serve their market better. Central to this is competition. Basically, the globalization has greatly helped in levelling the trade barriers wherein the location is now hardly a source of competitive advantage. This has also been greatly helped by the leaps and bounds of technology which has facilitated vast improvements in transportation and communication. However, despite of these innovations, locations remain important when industries cluster on these areas. These industries amass in certain areas which can strengthen the various industries within them in order to be more productive and by directing and concentrating innovation as well as the stimulation of the birth of new business ventures in the area (Porter, 1998). Still, central to this endeavour is the competition or more accurately the presence of competition. Chang and Harrington (2003) recognize the importance of the level of competition that can be brought about by firms that are able to innovate greatly and maintain a global presence. Prior to the dawn of globalization, many companies are snugly operating within their realms and cuddled by their governments. However, nowadays, many multinational firms have far reaching capabilities globally which encourages innovation to bring about quality and at the same time bring down costs. Again, all these are only possible if firms can compete freely and fairly. Hence, there are various competition authorities that tries to ensure that competition remain healthy within a country. Section A Competition Authority Among the foremost issue that most competition authorities try to tackle is the problem of antitrust. In other words, alt hough innovation is greatly encouraged in the free market and that growth of companies are generally favourable to the economy, certain firms can amass greater market and control thru mergers and acquisitions that, if left unchecked, could result to a consolidation of the industry to only one major player. In such a scenario, there is an effective destruction of competition which can lead to inefficiencies. There are cases when cartels are formed or the dominant player induces practices that may hurt competition such as predatory pricing. Ginsburg and Wright (2010) relate about two deterrents to such practices which are the traditional and penalty deterrence. In their analysis, it can be gleaned that the force of penalties and regulation play crucially in order to maintain balance in a market and to ensure the health of the competition within that industry. UK and Competition The United Kingdom (UK) remains as one of the most competitive countries in the world except for a slight re spite in the past years when the country was reeling from the effects of the Great Recession. Recently though, the country has reclaimed its spot in the top ten along with other European countries. Looking at the list which includes Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands clearly Europe is a center for competitiveness. Although the UK was temporarily ousted from the top ten, the country was able to bounce back fuelled by its strong

ENG Wa 9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ENG Wa 9 - Essay Example The constitution was weak. At one period between 1919 and 1933, there were 28 different parties in government. There were only coalition governments. From 1918 to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the government did nothing to improve widespread poverty, massive inflation and unemployment. They remained basically ineffective for 13 years, a point in which Hitler used to gain popularity. Upon signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the social and economic situation of the country became drastically worse. The government lost all credibility setting the stage for the growth of nationalism, anti-Semitism and the rise of the 3rd Reich . The purpose of this paper is to show why the German people had no choice but to accept the 3rd Reich. When a country is in such economic and social turmoil, it sets the stage for a dictator and totalitarian regime. The paper will conclude by showing how a country changes from economic turmoil to WWII. The Treaty of Versailles set the stage and there w as no other choice. Towards the end of the war, in January of 1918, President Wilson proposed to the US Congress the "Fourteen Points" and "Four principles". He sent the proposal to the Germans on the 5th of November 1918. (http://www.germanculture.com.ua) The new Weimar Republic was created November 9th 1918 on the premise that the Wilson proposition would be ratified as part of the peace settlement. The armistice was asked for November 11, 1918. Cease fire began by a country who thought they were winning the war at home and had no idea of the losses on the front.().France and Britain wanted retribution. They wanted Germany to be reduced to a insignificant European country.(Duffy 2004 ) .Of Wilson's Fourteen Points, nothing was taken into account other than the creation of the League of Nations. (Fuller 2010) Germany was completely demoralized. Had the proposal been considered, the blame of World War I would have been shared, and reparations would not have fallen completely on one country. The German people had no faith in the new governing powers. The Weimar Republic stayed in power from 1918 to 1933.(Wadell) In 1919, a new constitution was drawn, but it was never ratified. The fallacies of the constitution were later used by Hitler to gain toletarian power when he became Chancellor in 1933. Though it was a democratic constitution, " the president had the right to dismiss the cabinet, dissolve the Reichstag, and veto legislation. The legislative powers of the Reichstag were further weakened by the provision for presidential recourse to popular plebiscite. Article 48, the so-called emergency clause, accorded the president the right to allow the cabinet to govern without the consent of parliament whenever it was deemed essential to maintaining public order". Defining public order was highly subjective. (http://www.germanculture.com.ua) Â   In 1918, the economic situation was catastrophic. The government had no power to improve the financial situation of its c itizens. One is four men lost his life in battle which was equivalent to one third of the civilian population. The advances of mass production of technology required human labor to operate the machines and financial stability to finance the investment in the machines. Had the 14 Points been signed, Germany would have had a chance to recover its losses. (Karpovsky) Germany was forced to sign a treaty. The Treaty of Versailles was compiled in