Oligopoly Vs. Monopolistic Competition Air Berlin Case Study

Case Study: Air Berlin

Theory of the Firm Analysis

Fixed Costs:

• Airplanes
• Labour (salaries)
• Airport Facilities

Variable Costs:

• Fuel
• Landing Fees

Define Fixed Cost: A cost that does not vary with output

Define Variable Cost: A cost that varies with output

The airplane is a fixed cost as once it is paid for the only variance in cost is through its operation. In the article it is mentioned that they look to sell 8 airplanes in the interest of reducing fixed costs as to reintroduce capital into the firm. An airplane in the majority of cases is bought outright, and this is established by the firm’s ability to sell it.

The fuel is a variable cost due to the possible change in price of fuel supplied to the airlines. The price of fuel is dependent on the microeconomic relationship of supply & demand, as the more routes an airline runs the more fuel it will need to purchase. In the article it identifies that jet fuel prices are “highly volatile” suggesting that this cost changes dependent on output.

The second variable cost is the landing fees, as more airplanes fly the greater the landing fees, as more airplanes have to pay the fee. There is also the nature of the cost of landing fees which may change; this is identified in the article through competition with Lufthansa for a central hub.

Case for Oligopoly:

Main Factors:

• Interdependency
• Competition
• Etihad (market power)
• Sustained Losses
• Abnormal Profit & Reserves

Interdependency is a clear signal of oligopolistic competition, this is identified in the article as the need to develop a new airport. To continue competition both Air Berlin and Lufthansa must expand and open new routes, which is why there is the development of another central airport in Berlin. Currently, Lufthansa have an advantage as they have more docks for airplanes at “Tegel Airport”

There is clear evidence of competition with Lufthansa, as Air Berlin is stated to be the second-largest airline in Germany. This means that domestically the two big players are Lufthansa and Air Berlin, but the article goes on to mention the involvement of Etihad Airlines. The article also identifies that there is the intention of competition in the long run against alternative airlines, as Mehdorn states that “We want to strengthen our profile as an airline company… we need long-haul flights.”

The fact that the losses of the firm are being sustained provides clear evidence that Air Berlin is part of an oligopoly. Firstly, losses being sustained shows that the firm is not part of perfect competition, in perfect competition the firm will stop production the moment losses are being made as it is “easier” to stop producing rather than leave the market altogether. Secondly, the sustaining of losses means that at point in time the firm was making abnormal profit to build cash reserves, a firm that operates with abnormal profit is at a point of monopoly, but Air Berlin still has its competitors.

Due to the various competitions in the domestic sector mainly between Air Berlin and Lufthansa it can be argued that a kinked demand curve is in play in the German airline sector (as displayed below).

The above graph shows that they are not competing on price, this is clearly identified in the article as there is only the mention of reducing costs, introducing more routes, greater output (new airport), and airline unions (i.e. One-world Alliance). Lufthansa is shown to have a lower marginal cost due to economies of scale, as Lufthansa is a considerably bigger airline globally and in Germany in comparison to Air Berlin.

In the long run Air Berlin may be able to cut its costs down so that there is a return to normal profit, and with the eventual opening of BER the firm will be able to effectively expand and possibly compete at the same level as Lufthansa. However further delays in the opening of the new airport may mean that Air Berlin will continue to eat into their cash reserves, as stated by the article the costs per month are approximately €5 million will slowly degrade the €100 million in cash reserve. In the article it is stated that Air Berlin is selling airplanes to reduce their fixed costs, while this is appropriate action in the short run, in the long run it may mean that the firm will fail to fully utilise its new facilities of the new airport.

Case for Monopolistic Competition:

Define Monopolistic Competition: The existence of monopoly for a given firm at a given period of time in the short run. The firms in the long run will compete on price and other factors (e.g. branding, quality, etc.) eventually losing monopoly power over time as firms begin to differentiate less.

Main Factors:

• There are Many Airlines and Consumers, and no Firm Has Total Control Over Market Price
• Existence of Asymmetric Information
• Independent Decision Making
• Limited Barriers to Entry & Exit in Long Run

It is clear that there are many firms in the airline industry within Germany, and that there is a spread of consumers across the different airlines. It can be argued that no firm has clear control over market price based on external information, airlines often compete on price for specific dates or near certain events, and since there is the involvement of international airlines there is no single firm with complete control over market price.

There is clear evidence of independent decision making by Air Berlin. The first independent decision was to make a move to a new airport to act as a central hub so the firm can expand; Lufthansa had not taken any action in particular to cause this move, and it is likely that Air Berlin would have done this regardless of Lufthansa.

There is to a degree an ability to enter and exit freely into the market, this is identified by Air Berlins ability to sell airplanes, reduce unprofitable routes, and as a result reduce marginal cost. There are many competitors in the airline industry, Air Berlin could sell all of its airplanes, docks, and facilities to an international airline, or even sell parts to Lufthansa. There is the possibility of a clean exit, however in the airline industry there are many barriers to entry due to the cost of airplanes and facilities.

The diagram above shows the short run loss of Air Berlin, it can be noted that there is a shift in marginal revenue and therefore average revenue as the article states that Air Berlin begins to lose customers. There is also the issue of high fixed costs which drives the average cost curve above average revenue, as the cost of the new airport facilities is considerable.

However, in the long run it can be argued that Air Berlin shall return to a point of normal profit. This is because there is the intention to sell eight airplanes to reduce those high fixed costs. There is also the mention of introducing long haul flights and the reduction of unprofitable routes which is the reduction of the supply to meet demand. This is shown in the diagram below as the firm returns to a position of normal profit.

Theory of The Firm – Profit Maximization

Marginal revenue displays the added revenue from each product sold, the reason the line has a negative gradient is the factor that as there is a greater quantity supplied there is a lower price, as the product is less scarce. When marginal revenue crosses the x-axis in a graph it can be noted that every product produced from that point on-wards takes away from revenue.

Through the understanding of the nature of marginal revenue, we can produce a model curve for a firm’s total revenue. It can be noted that the x-intercept of the marginal revenue graph represents the point at which the total revenue graph is at the peak.

Marginal cost displays the added cost from each product sold due to the factors of production being employed such as labour, materials, etc. Marginal cost represents all of the variable costs of the firm, and how there is an increase in cost when more is produced. However, average total cost allows us to see what the firm should actually pay for production.

Average total cost involves the average variable and fixed costs. The curve displayed above is of the average total cost in the short term. The curve is in a negative gradient as long as marginal costs do not exceed the average total cost, the initial negative gradient can be explained as average fixed costs declines as quantity produced increase, as factors such as the factory are becoming more efficient. The reason the gradient increases is because of the greater increase in marginal cost whereas average fixed cost does not radically change to counteract. This is further explained by the law of diminishing marginal returns.

The understanding of average total cost allows us to use the profit maximization point of marginal cost and marginal revenue graph to analyse what the total revenue is and what the total cost is, enabling the actual portion of profit from production.

There are two examples below, the first one display’s firms operating at point of profit making, and the second an example of loss making. Notice the distinct difference between them as the gradient of average revenue or the position of average total cost. As there are a variety of factors present in the positioning and gradients of each curve and line, it is important to look at what are the points to look at for profit maximization The average revenue line is used as it represents the demand curve, and the average total cost curve is used as it represents the operating costs of the term when a given quantity is supplied. This allows revenue to be worked out through price x quantity, where the quantity at profit maximization meets the average revenue line and average total cost curve.

Graphs to be edited

Introduction to Theory of The Firm

Fixed Costs → do not vary with output
Variable Costs → vary with output

Revenue of a firm is always dependent on the output.

Materials         → Variable Cost (leather, stitching, etc.)
Capital             → Fixed Cost (sewing machines, leather tanner, etc.)
Labour             → Fixed/Variable Cost (depends on type and payment)
Transport         → Fixed Cost (short term)
Marketing        → Fixed Cost (does not vary with output)
Factory            → Fixed Cost (same size, does not vary with output)

Short Term: The length of time in which one factor of production is fixed (factory determines whether or not the firm operates in the short term or the long term).

Long Term: The length of time over which at least one factor of production becomes variable (i.e. need a new factory to increase output).

The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns:

 

This graph shows how output increases over the initial short term, but in the long term output decreases. This can be explained by several factors, such as there are only so many facilities, employees waiting to use machines, rate of productivity declines as employees may begin chatting to each other or the machinery is now inefficient.

The classic example is “too many cooks in the kitchen”, if the oven is used by one cook the other cook cannot use it, if one cook used all the fish the other cook cannot use it, etc. The limitation of output increases over time due to inherent problems.

If this graph meets the x-axis and goes below it, it identifies the result of less productivity. As at any point below the x-axis adding a greater amount of a factor of production subtracts from the total output.

As a consequence of The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns:

 

Shown above is the example of how adding a unit of labour increases the costs involved in production. The reason marginal cost is at the trough while marginal productivity is at the peak is because the cost of introducing more labour was small in comparison to the increased output. Therefore it can be stated that the cost is counteracted by the increase in output.

This is evident if the following example is given, at one unit of labour 100 baseballs are outputted, as there is an additional unit of labour introduced there is an additional 150 baseballs outputted, this counteracts the cost of hiring the additional unit of labour as the output has increased by 150%.

For Marginal Revenue it can be noted that as price decreases, quantity increases. This is because for the producer to sell the next good they will have to reduce the price of their good, in the sense of revenue you have to lower the price to sell more. As there is more supply the price drops as the good is less scarce.

Profit Maximisation: This is where Marginal Revenue is equal to Marginal Cost (MR=MC, Q-P)

At point Q1 there is greater marginal revenue then marginal cost, this is still a point of profit but if you stop at point Q1 you forsake possible profit and this is highlighted by the blue triangle. This is why it is worthwhile for the producer to increase one of the factors of production to increase the marginal cost with the goal of reaching the point of profit maximisation.

At point Q2 there is a greater marginal cost whereas, there is less marginal revenue. This point can be seen as equally inefficient as point Q1, as again there is loss represented by the green triangle. However it can be argued that it is better to be on this side as through this you achieve a greater market share, which is a long term interest.

Notes:

Every firm will attempt to reach the point of profit maximisation, the price of the product does not matter to the firm, and the interest is in profit.

Definitions:

Marginal Revenue: The extra revenue that an additional unit of product will bring.

Marginal Cost: The extra cost that an additional unit of product will bring.

The introduction of average revenue allows the producer to see where the price of the good should be in order for the firm to maximize profit. The average revenue can be identified as demand, and while it is in the interest of the firm to maximize profit the accurate pricing of the good is essential.

Average Revenue: Total revenue per unit of output. When all output is sold at the same price, average revenue will be the same as price.