What is a monopoly? When one hears the word monopoly, most think of it as the board game or as the controlling of a market. Although the game Monopoly is more of an example of what a monopoly is, it is a great example in explaining the definition. The second way people think of a monopoly is its dictionary definition as the exclusive control of a given commodity or service in a given market. I will not try to explain what the definition of a monopoly is in this paper, but rather explain what components make up a monopoly and how they interact together. I will try and answer the questions on why monopolies exist and their traits that control the business world. Microsoft