Final answer:
Firms compete in multiple industries by leveraging their core competencies to diversify operations, spread risk, and capitalize on new opportunities. Serious competition is evidenced by price wars, marketing campaigns, and innovation, with the smartphone and fast food industries being notable examples. Market structures influence the degree and nature of competition in these industries.
Step-by-step explanation:
Firms can compete in more than one industry. This is often seen when a firm applies its core competencies to different markets or when it seeks to diversify its operations to spread risk, reach new customers, or capitalize on new opportunities. Competition itself is essential for a healthy economy as it leads to more choices for consumers, better prices, and innovative products and services.
Evidence of serious competition between firms in an industry can include price wars, aggressive marketing campaigns, and continuous product or service innovation. An example of highly competitive industries would be the smartphone industry and the fast food industry, where multiple companies compete fiercely for market share.
While firms operating in perfectly competitive markets face the stark reality of consumer choice and rival competition, market structures such as Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, and Oligopoly operate differently depending on the number of sellers, barriers to entry, and product types offered in a market. Policymakers must consider these factors when deciding how much to intervene in an attempt to balance the potential benefits of large-scale production against the potential downsides, such as reduced competition from mergers and large business growth.