Week 6 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? 

I learned an abundant amount from this reading. I think what surprised me the most is that there is a large emphasis on competition in the business world. Incumbents have an advantage when it comes to competing with new entrants, and I think it is interesting how the article describes the way competition influences threat of entry, power of suppliers, power of buyers and threat of substitutes.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The thing that confused me about the reading was figuring out what incumbency meant. I looked up incumbency in the dictionary, and it didn’t seem like a definition that matched the context of the word in the sentence. Finally, I found out the meaning of the word through Investopedia.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

If I could ask the author two questions, it would be:

a) Why is there always competition in the market?

I would ask this question because I don’t understand why companies always compete against each other to be the top company. It would be more ethical to let all companies win instead of trying to dominate the market.

b) What are the government regulations for competition?

This is a great question because I am sure there are many laws and acts for competition. I have read about the Sherman Antitrust Law in Marketing class, and that law protects competition among companies.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

No, there is nothing I think the author was wrong about.