The Research question that was investigated is What market structure characterizes the selling of fruits and vegetables in the Al Seeb Souq?

The investigation was undertaken by first collecting secondary research that was published by newspapers, internet blogs and government laws to determine information about the Souq.

Primary research was undertaken by interviewing four people, questionnaires that were handed to thirty random sample and observation was conducted to gain more information about the Souq and see if the primary research will back the secondary data obtained.

Most of the results obtained came with similar conclusions that the Souq resembles a monopolistic competition with features of a perfect competition market structure.

Therefore based on the data obtained, I came up with conclusion that the market structure that characterizes the selling of fruits and vegetables in the Al Seeb Souq would be a monopolistic competition market structure.

Word Count: 145

Introduction

The fruit and vegetable souq is located in the capital city of Oman, Muscat, has been operating for over 100 years. A Souq is a market where buyers and sellers come to together to carry an economic transition. The market is packed with consumers from different nationalities from different regions of the city. The market is known for its fresh fruits, and the wide variety in both fruits and vegetables. There are around 200 shops in the market selling almost homogenous products [1] .

In IB Economics, we studied theory of the firm and how firms operate in everyday life, which was a clear link to the fruit and vegetable market. The shops are market structures, but the true market structure if these shops are unknown. The IB Economics course encourages students to think and link the relevant theories to real-life situations and what goes on the real world.

After visiting the market several times, I was astonished at the fact that the shops are able to sell homogenous products are able to survive and compete. Not only do they compete with each other, they are forced to compete against the opening of malls that also sells fruits and vegetables at a competitive price. The fact that many shops are able to survive in extremely competitive conditions selling similar products, is an interesting phenomenon, which encourages someone to wonder how why these firms are able to survive, and making it worthy of investigation.