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The effect of competition on service delivery

 

In a free market economy such as Australia, it is considered beneficial for consumers to be able to choose among a number of service providers or to be able to select from a range of alternative products. The availability of alternative products or services in the market place creates competition among suppliers and this competition works in favour of the consumer via the two following mechanisms:

 

1

In a competitive market place, suppliers are caused to improve their products for fear of losing customers to competitors
   

2

In a competitive market place, suppliers are caused to maintain lower profit margins for fear of being undercut by competitors
 
These benefits for consumers underlie the reasons why governments in free market economies seek to reduce the occurences of monopolies (Collins dictionary defines a monopoly as occurring when an enterprise or person has exclusive control of the market supply of a product or service).

However despite the tendency for highly competitive markets to pressure suppliers into improving their products and pursuing cost minimization, there is a likelihood of this competition to have the following effects:

The convergence phenomena
Price wars between businesses
Competition on level of service
Need to create customer loyalty