Glassmakers fined record €1.4bn for price-fixing

This article from the Guardian covers the record fines given to a cartel of 4 European businesses involved.

Read it and answer the following questions

Level 1- Knowledge
1a) Define the word ‘cartel’
1b) Outline how the cartel acted in an ‘unethical and wholly illegal’ way

Level 2 - Application
2a) Explain why EU competition commissioner has “imposed an €896m penalty on French group Saint-Gobain’
2b) Saint-Gobain has stated that the fine it has received is "excessive and disproportionate"

Level 3 - Analysis
3) Analyse the impact of market forces on the behaviour of cartel members.

Level 4- Evaluation
4) To what extent do you agree with the following statement?
Instead of fining Saint-Gobain a record amount, its senior managers should have been sent to prison

Note Level 1 – Level 4 are questions based on IB standards where

• Level 1: Knowledge
• Level 2: Application
• Level 3: Analysis
• Level 4: Evaluation

Words in bold (define, explain…) have a specific meaning in the IB Diploma Program (DP). The meanings are in Glossary of Command Terms Section of the IBO DP Business and Management Guide available at the OCC and from my website