Which market structure would you associate with a large number of sellers competing with little influence on the market?

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Study for the Texas AandM University MKTG321 Exam. Prepare with flashcards and multiple-choice questions, each question has hints and explanations. Get ready for success!

The correct association is with pure competition. This market structure is characterized by a large number of sellers, each selling a homogeneous product. In pure competition, individual sellers do not have the power to influence market prices significantly because the products offered by different sellers are essentially identical, and many substitutes are available.

Because there are so many sellers and buyers in a purely competitive market, each seller is a price taker. This means that they must accept the market price determined by supply and demand rather than setting their own prices. As a result, competition is fierce, and firms are striving to maximize their output to achieve economies of scale. In this environment, the market is highly responsive to changes in supply and demand.

Monopolistic competition, while also having many sellers, tends to have differentiated products, giving each firm some pricing power. Oligopoly features a small number of firms, leading to more significant influence over market conditions, while a monopoly is characterized by a single seller dominating the market with no close substitutes. Thus, only pure competition fits the description of many sellers with little individual influence on the market.