1 mark
Q5 Name the tactic behind Qualcomm pricing under average variable cost, fined EUR242 million by the EU.
Edexcel · 9EC0 / 8EC0 / WEC11–14
Oligopoly comes up in 20 questions across the Edexcel A Level, AS and International A Level past papers (9EC0 / 8EC0 / WEC11–14), worth 241 marks between them. They run from 2019 to 2025 and appear on A Level Paper 1, A Level Paper 3, International A Level Unit 3.
Tariffs run from 1 to 20 marks. The commonest instructions are Discuss (7), Evaluate (6), Identify (MCQ) (2). Specification points covered: 3.3.3.5, 3.4.4.
Q5 Name the tactic behind Qualcomm pricing under average variable cost, fined EUR242 million by the EU.
Q7(e) Discuss how rival chains are likely to fare once McDonald's rolls out its CosMc's drinks cafes.
Q10 Evaluate what firms gain from colluding, after South Korea fined 15 shipping firms $63m for fixing prices, using game theory.
Q10 Evaluate how collusion affects firms and consumers, using game theory and the Leicester City price-fixing fine.
Q6 Name the tactic of a cereal firm shaving price to block entrants while still covering costs.
Q9 Evaluate the drawbacks of trading in an oligopoly, using India's three big tyre makers and a payoff matrix.
Q7(a) Work out the percentage price cut on Tesla's entry-level Model 3 in China between January and October 2022.
Q7(e) Discuss how rival electric car makers are likely to react to Tesla's price cuts in China.
Q7(b) Explain what the 2021 market shares reveal about how competitive UK food delivery is.
Q7(e) Discuss, using game theory, the tactics delivery firms use to win a bigger share of the market.
Q7(e) Discuss how competing on things other than price may help buyers and firms in India's smartphone industry.
Q10 Evaluate how firms in oligopoly compete on price and by other means, given Apple, Samsung and OnePlus leading India's premium smartphone market; diagrams needed.
Q7(b) Using Figure 2, explain how the cloud infrastructure market is structured.
Q7(c) Analyse how consumers are probably affected by two ways Amazon competes against rival retailers, drawing on Extract A.
Q8 Assess what firms stand to gain from colluding, illustrated by a basic game theory model, after three UK drug makers were each fined £1.2 million in 2020.
Q6(e) Using the data supplied, discuss Jet2's move to lift package holiday prices in the 12 hours after Thomas Cook collapsed.
Q7(e) Discuss which forms of non-price competition might lift car makers' sales, using Extracts A and B plus your own knowledge.
Q8 Using a chosen industry and diagrams, evaluate the drawbacks oligopoly brings firms and buyers; South Africa's 2019 four-firm ratios reached 96% (mobile phones) and 74% (insurance).
Q7(d) Taking Figure 2 alongside Extract A, analyse how predatory pricing would probably hit profits at a ride-hailing taxi firm.
Q1(c) Apply game theory to the data supplied to discuss what price cutting does to oligopoly firms facing an HFSS advertising ban.
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