Assigment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Assigment - Assignment Example (Sahih Muslim) Humor is a great way to diffuse a bad situation, or ease an uncomfortable one but it must be use appropriately. Just as a knife is vital and essential in preparation food but it can also cause one to bleed. Likewise, some humor has sarcasm and rage thinly hidden in it. Islam is a religion that promotes engagement in this life while keeping the hereafter in notice. Accordingly, Islam permits a Muslim to entertain himself so that they could relax through permissible activities and sports. Nevertheless, the pursuit of such relaxation and the pleasure should not take one away or neglect his religious and other obligatory duties. One must not even joke in an inappropriate manner. As long as ones follow the given parameters, humor and joking becomes permissible in Islam. To get the exact idea of permissibility one should look at the word of Quran and way of Prophet. Verily the best word is the word of Holy Quran and the best way is the way of Prophet. It is clear that humor or jokes are permissible but one should understand the people and the situation before cracking jokes or playing pranks. Such as we learn from the way of Prophet, who never use to kid around with all his acquaintances. Moreover, it is important that one apologize if his joke has offended someone. Humor indeed is an excellent way to diffuse worry, uneasiness or bad circumstances but even at such situations one must care that his words do not harm someone’s

Discuss the barriers faced by firms wishing to enter an oligopolistic Essay

Discuss the barriers faced by firms wishing to enter an oligopolistic market structure - Essay Example Therefore, sellers in the oligopoly are constantly aware of competitor actions and respond accordingly in order to outperform the small volume of competition existing in the market structure. Oligopolists regularly take into consideration the strategic responses of competition, attempting to model the most likely retaliation of important market participants in order to maintain competitive edge. Even though competition is intense between the market players, there is also considerable influence in the oligopoly to prevent new competitors from entering the market. The most common barriers for new market entry include pricing, product differentiation and consumer switching costs, as well as intellectual property and patent laws. An explanation of barriers Firms operating in an oligopolistic market structure have often achieved economies of scale, which are the specific cost advantages achieved by a firm due to its size and scope of operations in which the cost of outputs continues to de crease whilst fixed costs are able to spread over a higher volume of unit outputs (Gelles and Mitchell 1996). This is achieved through better operational efficiency and productivity that also improves variable costs along the production model. Over time, as the oligopolist achieves profit maximisation, the business is able to low the cost of capital, especially as it pertains to asset procurement, thereby increasing production output whilst experiencing better cost efficiency. Economies of scale that have been achieved through continuous operation and success in sales in a market create barriers to new entrants, especially as it pertains to pricing. Businesses in the oligopoly are able to create predatory pricing structures in an effort to undercut emerging competition attempting to enter the market. Because the business competitor has achieved economies of scale and reduced the costs of capital, they are often equipped with the operational capacity to increase production without ha ving to incur significant costs in this manufacturing effort. One should consider the beer industry, one that is currently dominated by major players such as Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors which account for approximately 80 percent of the total market share in the international beer industry (New York Times 2009). If either of these oligopolists is aware that a new competitor is attempting to enter the market, thus providing competitive threat, these manufacturers are able to lower the prices of their selected products and sustain these low prices even though it would, in the short-term, reduce their quarterly profit expectations. New entrants, however, would have to invest considerable capital into the systems required to produce the product, distribute the product and market it. Oftentimes, the new competitor must establish brand recognition (a costly marketing objective) that requires, oftentimes, years of dedicated promotion in marketing simply to get consumers interested in the beverage brand. Major players such as Anheuser-Busch can theoretically cut their prices by 50% on products that are homogenous in relation to the production output of the new competitor. Sustaining these prices in an effort to drive out the new competitor is relatively simplistic when economies of scale have been achieved. Why is this so important in determining barriers to new market entry in the oligopolistic market structure? The law of demand indicates that as a price decreases, consumer demand increases when all other factors remain stable (Boyes and Melvin 2007). Therefore, market characteristics