Final answer:
The Internet increases market efficiency by enabling buyers to quickly find and compare products, thus fostering e-commerce growth and intensifying competition.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Internet's role in facilitating communications and commerce has had a profound impact on markets, both locally and globally. By improving the efficiency of finding and comparing products, the Internet has led to increased market efficiency. Customers can explore a wide range of options quickly, and businesses are able to find buyers beyond their local geographic confines. This newfound accessibility and competition have bolstered the growth of e-commerce, stimulating more vigorous competition among sellers and providing consumers with better choices.
Simultaneously, this advancement has sparked debate over the organizational dynamics of firms in the digital age, weighing the prospects for small business competitiveness against the consolidation of market power in 'winner-take-all' scenarios. Nevertheless, the aggregate impact favors consumers through more diverse and cost-effective options, while challenging businesses to innovate and compete on a larger scale.