Companies and Markets

This text combines the relevant aspects of business policy and industrial economics in order to provide students with a framework for understanding how company strategy relates to the markets in which companies operate. By bringing these two key areas together, the book should provide a better understanding of the factors which influence a firm's choice of strategy and the market consequences of such strategic choices. The authors examine: how companies decide on which business and markets to operate in, and the competitive strategies they can adopt to succeed; a description of the key features of markets and how they function, including supply and demand, market structure and buyer behaviour; and the need to understand that business strategy is concerned with the formulation of long-term plans which have economic, organizational, marketing and financial dimensions. Carefully tested in course-use by the authors, the approach that this book takes should allow students of business studies and industrial economics to perceive the fundamental importance of markets in understanding the competitive and corporate strategies of businesses.