Market Power (Business Enviroment Module) - Essay Example

In order to keep this in check, various agencies have been established in US to control the abuse of market power by organizations. The key agency is the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The three major federal antitrust laws are the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act. The mission of Antitrust Division is to protect the consumers against unreasonable competition practices of organizations that result in higher product and service prices. The most implemented law by the Antitrust Division is the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Under this act, Section 2 explains that it is illegal to “monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations” (Vickers, 2005). The other agency instituted to govern the market power is Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This agency deals with the issues that protect consumers while controlling the competition by preventing unfair competition. The FTC along with Department of Justice Antitrust Division pursues effective laws that pursues customers’ interests, develops policies and practices for consumers and businesses in the country’s market place as well globally.

The FTC’s work is however performed by the Bureau’s of Consumer Protection, Competition and Economics. The above two agencies implement laws both on the regional and national level. In addition to this, many different independent government agencies have been set up to control various inter-state competitions. For the regulation of communications either by radio, television, satellite, cable, telephone and so on a Federal Communication Commission has been set up. For the regulation of competition and consumer protection in natural gas, oil, and electricity Federal Energy Regulatory