Excerpts from the report: The principal objective of this study was to provide useful information to the meat industry by examining the competitive interrelationships among functions and types of firms in a key western wholesale market for meat. This required a detailed characterization and analysis of the market in terms of the types of firms in operation, the functions and services performed, the types and classes of products handled, and the relative importance of various supply sources. Accordingly, emphasis was placed upon the study of geographic sources of supply, channels of wholesale distribution, and characteristics or practices of packers or slaughterers and other wholesale market operators. Resulting data and information were used in a descriptive analysis of competition in the market. This study was confined largely to one market area, the San Francisco Bay Area, which was defined to include the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, and the city of Vallejo in Solano County.