Professional Documents
Culture Documents
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
The size of firms
It is useful to group firms together according to whether they are large enterprises or small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The size of firms can be measured in different ways. They provide useful clues about the
reasons why some firms grow into very large organizations while others remain small.
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
But which is the largest?
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
Measuring the size of firms
There are a number of ways to measure and compare the size of firms:
•SIZE OF WORKFORCE But some large firms are capital intensive and
employ relatively few workers.
•MARKET SHARE Large firms may dominate sales in the markets they
supply. But not all markets are large. Firms serving small or niche markets
will tend to remain small.
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
How firms grow
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
Growth through merger or takeover
Horizontal integration occurs between firms engaged Vertical integration occurs between
in the production of the same type of good or service firms at different stages of production
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
What are economies of scale?
They are cost savings from increasing the scale of production in a firm or industry
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
Internal economies of scale
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
External economies of scale
•Ancillary firms that develop and locate nearby large firms in other industries to
provide them with the specialized equipment and business services they need
•Joint marketing benefits: for example, new firms locating near to others in the
same industry may share their reputation for producing high-quality products
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
Can firms grow too large?
Firms can experience problems if they expand scale too much and too quickly
Falling productivity and rising average costs result from diseconomies of scale
•A large firm may suffer from internal communication and coordination problems,
especially if it has many locations, many managers and many different activities
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
Returns to scale
Therefore, cost per unit falls Cost per unit is unchanged Cost per unit rises
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute
Why do some firms remain small?
© Brian Titley 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute