A family of measures of the proportion of total output in an industry that is produced by a given number of the largest firms in the industry. The two most common concentration ratios are for the four largest firms and the eight largest firms. The four-firm concentration ratio is the proportion of total output produced by the four largest firms in the industry and the eight-firm concentration ratio is proportion of total output produced by the eight largest firms in the industry. Concentration ratios are commonly used to indicate the degree to which an industry is oligopolistic and the extent of market control of the largest firms in the industry. A related measure is the Herfindahl index.

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-- Thomas Stewart, author

Good news! Manny Mustard, my long-time friend and proprietor of Manny Mustard's House of Sandwiches is having a special on his Deluxe Club Sandwich. Let's drop in for a brief respite -- and lunch. More good news! Manny is bubbling profusely about the vitality of his business. Last month he turned a profit. Yes, that much cherished profit, the goal of business firms, be they large or small. Upon closer inspection Manny's profit calculation might be suffering from an oversight or two. It seems as though Manny neglected to pay himself a wage. Nor did he bother to include any interest expense on the savings he invested in his House of Sandwiches venture. But what the heck, he earned a profit -- didn't he?
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time browsing through a long list of dot com websites hoping to buy either a set of steel-belted radial snow tires or a wall poster commemorating the 2000 Presidential election. Be on the lookout for cardboard boxes.
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