Perfect competition | Monopolistic competition | Oligopoly | Monopoly | |
Number of firms | Many firms | Many firms | Few firms | Single firm |
Barriers to entry | Very low | Low | High | Very high |
Nature of substitute products | Very close substitutes | Substitutes but differentiated | Very close substitutes or differentiated | No good substitutes |
Nature of competition | Price only | Price, marketing & features | Price, marketing & features | Advertising |
Pricing power | None | Some | Some to significant | Significant |
Demand curve for the firm | Perfectly elastic (Horizontal) | Downward sloping, yet elastic | Downward sloping | Downward Sloping |
Example | Rice market | Soap | Aircraft manufacturers | Utility companies |
Key points | Overall market supply and demand, determine the prices. | Branding creates differentiation in otherwise very similar products. | Firms are interdependent, i.e. they must consider actions and reactions of each other. | May be regulated by the government. |