ABSTRACT
Despite the attempts by regulators to stamp out cartels, unfortunately they are more prevalent than we would like to admit. A cartel is essentially an oligopoly that acts like a monopoly, powerful enough to set a price to maximise profit often at the expense of the end customer. These price-fixing behaviours are in effect an attempt to unfairly consolidate one’s market power in order to keep others out of that market. By keeping others out of the market, they effectively keep prices high and increase their profits. It often acts against free market principles that allow enterprising new entrants to thrive and succeed. This abuse of power does not just exist at an industry level but also at a company, team and individual level where an individual can act in ways that consolidate their power base in an organisation creating uneven playing fields and unfair individual advantage. It is this search for more power that operates like a lens or filter through which they view the world and their place in it. Resulting decisions become biased, driven by no other reason than one’s need to consolidate and increase power, often sabotaging the quality of decision, the consequence of which may only show up sometime in the future as in the cartel examples described .
