And in the course of school social studies, and in specialized economic literature, a term such as "cartel" is often found. Not everyone can fully understand it, proceeding from the fact that it can be ambiguous. We will deal with him thoroughly in this material.
The concept of the word "cartel"
A cartel is an alliance on the basis of an agreement between several companies producing products of the same type. A distinctive condition is that the members of the agreement are completely independent (both economically and legally). Within the framework of the union, they distinguish between spheres of influence, the market, and agree on a price level. The goal is to provide all members with the maximum possible profit.
A little bit about the origin. "Cartel" is a masculine loan word. Its sources are identified by the following chain:
- French cartel - "duel, challenge";
- French cartello - "announcement";
- ital. carta - "paper";
- lat charta - "paper";
- other Greek χάρτης - "papyrus leaf".
For many of us, the transfer of the cartel, syndicate, trust, and concern has been left in our memory from school. We give brief definitions and designated concepts:
- Trust - a monopoly in which all the merging enterprises lose their economic and legal independence, are subordinated to a single center.
- Syndicate - This term originally referred to trade unions (trade unions). Only later, in the course of history, the concept began to determine a monopolistic union, in which the commercial independence of members is lost, but their legal and economic independence is maintained. It is important to note that in the syndicate both the distribution of orders and the sale of finished products is carried out at the direction of the center.
- Concern - The main difference of this monopoly union is that the composition of its members, in contrast to the mentioned groups, is heterogeneous. For example, it may include metalworking, energy enterprises, car factories and dealerships. Members maintain legal and economic independence, but their activities are coordinated by the main department.
Cartel Features
A cartel is primarily a cartel agreement, on the basis of which the activities of members of this monopoly are carried out. It defines mandatory points for all: prices, production volumes, market share, assortment, terms of employment, patent exchange, etc. Cartels are also distinguished by the fact that they do not have a clearly defined dominant center. They come to some kind of general decision here not in the form of an order, but through agreements, negotiations of the participants.
In the modern world, practically no one has left those original forms of cartels that were characteristic of the stage of their origin - the beginning of the 20th century. The "fault" is antitrust laws. Of course, they could not completely abolish the cartels, they simply switched from light to shadow - they exist in the form of unspoken associations, without a written agreement, in the form of verbal "gentlemen's" agreements. With such a hidden cartel, the legal, financial, industrial independence of the members is also preserved.
It is worth noting that not all types of cartels are banned today - on the contrary, they are encouraged in agricultural activities. The legislation of many countries prohibits cartels, trusts, syndicates that set fixed prices, dividing the sales market, as well as restrictions on production capacity and the volume of manufactured products.
Signs
A cartel is an association characterized by a number of features:
- The existence of a coercive system is the application of certain sanctions to violators of the contract.
- Joint work on the sale of products.Sometimes it can affect production.
- The combined companies belong to one industry.
- Each of the participants is the unconditional owner of its independent from other members of the enterprise.
- The association is of a contractual nature.
Types of Cartels
Consider in the table the types of existing or existing cartels.
| Variety: | Characteristic: |
| Price | Sets for all participants certain prices for products |
| Regional | Defines sales areas for members |
| Industrial | In this case, strict production volumes are determined for each participating enterprise. |
| Patent | Installed for sharing a profitable technical invention |
| Crisis | It is created when the market shows a temporary or persistent decline in demand. The goal here is one - to limit competition |
| Conditioned | Prescribes specific sales conditions |
| Contingented | Establishes certain contingents - quotas, in other words |
| Procurement | It is created to bring down purchase prices - participants agree on the purchase of a certain type of raw material for everyone at once. |
| Shared | It can be either territorial (a specific area for distribution is allocated) or quota (each is allocated a specific quota for distribution, based on its production capacity) |
| Costing | The contract defines the same structure of the enterprise structure or content of settlements |
| Monetary | Unified pricing association |
Let's move on to the cartels allowed for today.
Cartels not covered by the ban
We list those whose creation is possible in modern conditions:
- Benefiting both the state and technological progress in general.
- The activities of which are aimed at the development of a new market.
- Containing destructive for the economy and the environment production facilities.
- Associations, which account for a small part of the market (in the EU, for example, no more than 5%).
Other meanings of the word
On the Web, we can meet other uses of the word. For example, the union of two Russian rap artists "Capa and Cartel". In this case, the concept is used as an alias, proper name. The group positions itself as a worthy response to the "pop", "glamorous" rappers. Cartel is also the name of a foreign musical association.
The AK-47 "cartel" is a purchase in the Steam virtual store of the same virtual weapon - a Kalashnikov assault rifle for the game Counter Strike. The prefix "cartel" here means - new, right from the factory. In some countries, the exchange of prisoners may also be called a cartel.
We have examined the main and less common meanings of the word "cartel". Now you know about the signs, types and characteristics of this monopolistic association, which in some cases is also relevant in modern times.