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Question
Specialty Steel, Inc., needs a particular type of brick to line its kilns in order to safely achieve the high temperatures needed for the unusually strong steel it produces. The clay to make this brick is very rare and only two brick plants in the United States make this type of brick. Specialty Steel owns one of these brick plants and buys all of its production. The other brick manufacturer has recently developed an inexpensive new technology whereby ordinary clay can be used to make this fire brick. This significantly reduces the production cost of this type of brick.
a. Specialty Steel has less flexibility now than if it were not vertically integrated.
b. This is an example of a capacity balance problem.
c. This is a result of conflicts of interest between the managers of the brick plant and the executives of Specialty Steel.
d. The market power of Specialty Steel has been reducing vertical integration.
Answer
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