“In a free market economy, the firm is constantly influenced by the wider market in which it operates. The product market reveals information critical to a firm’s survival, such as what not to produce — when the sale price for a product will not cover the cost of its production; the factor market informs the cost of substitution between factors of production. While there is some room for price-seeking, firms cannot greatly alter the market price for their inputs. To increase its chance of survival, a firm can innovate and supply new and better products to consumers, or it can improve efficiency and produce the same goods at a lower cost than its competitors. Thus, the market competition allows profitable firms to grow and causes unprofitable ones to wither, forcing them to produce something different.
At the same time, firms in a market economy adjust the wages paid to their employees in accord with their productivity; employees will lose their jobs if performance is unsatisfactory. This gives firms a powerful incentive with which to motivate their employees, whose productivity, unlike that of other factors of production, is open to the influence of the rate of compensation. This internal pressure encourages workers to make their best efforts, and whether those are good enough is judge only by consumers. The performance of the firm is decided by the ultimate test of market survival.
~from “How China Became Capitalist" by R. Coase"
大師手筆，短短幾句話就說明市場機制運作，也暗暗點出競爭之下為何企業可以累積財富。
同時，也指出「工資」的市場機制，打臉一堆蠢到以為工運、工會可以保障勞工權益的覺青。尤其「the ultimate test of market survival」一詞，是價格理論的精髓。
明眼人更會發現，Coase短短幾句話就把90年代曾經很紅的Michael Porter競爭論整本書講完了 XD
元毓說 