Under monopoly, the firm has full control over the supply of a product. The elasticity of demand is zero for the products.
There is a single seller or a producer of a particular product, and there is no difference between the firm and the industry. The firm is itself an industry.
The firms can influence the price of a product and hence, these are price makers, not the price takers.
There are barriers for the new entrants.
The demand curve under monopoly market is downward sloping, which means the firm can earn more profits only by increasing the sales which are possible by decreasing the price of a product.
There are no close substitutes for a monopolist’s product.
Under a monopoly market, new firms cannot enter the market freely due to any of the reasons such as Government license and regulations, huge capital requirement, complex technology and economies of scale. These economic barriers restrict the entry of new firms.
Types of Monopoly
1. Perfect Monopoly
It is also called as absolute monopoly. In this case, there is only a single seller of product having no close substitute; not even remote one. There is absolutely zero level of competition. Such monopoly is practically very rare.
2. Imperfect Monopoly
It is also called as relative monopoly or simple or limited monopoly. It refers to a single seller market having no close substitute. It means in this market, a product may have a remote substitute. So, there is fear of competition to some extent e.g. Mobile (Cellphone) telcom industry (e.g. vodaphone) is having competition from fixed landline phone service industry (e.g. BSNL).
3. Private Monopoly
When production is owned, controlled and managed by the individual, or private body or private organization, it is called private monopoly. e.g. Tata, Reliance, Bajaj, etc. groups in India. Such type of monopoly is profit oriented.
4. Public Monopoly
When production is owned, controlled and managed by government, it is called public monopoly. It is welfare and service oriented. So, it is also called as 'Welfare Monopoly' e.g. Railways, Defence, etc.
5. Simple Monopoly
Simple monopoly firm charges a uniform price or single price to all the customers. He operates in a single market.
6. Discriminating Monopoly
Such a monopoly firm charges different price to different customers for the same product. It prevails in more than one market.
7. Legal Monopoly
When monopoly exists on account of trade marks, patents, copy rights, statutory regulation of government etc., it is called legal monopoly. Music industry is an example of legal monopoly.
8. Natural Monopoly
It emerges as a result of natural advantages like good location, abundant mineral resources, etc. e.g. Gulf countries are having monopoly in crude oil exploration activities because of plenty of natural oil resources.
9. Technological Monopoly
It emerges as a result of economies of large scale production, use of capital goods, new production methods, etc. E.g. engineering goods industry, automobile industry, software industry, etc.
10. Joint Monopoly
A number of business firms acquire monopoly position through amalgamation, cartels, syndicates, etc, it becomes joint monopoly. e.g. Actually, pizza making firm and burger making firm are competitors of each other in fast food industry. But when they combine their business, that leads to reduction in competition. So they can enjoy monopoly power in market.