Final answer:
In a perfectly competitive market, a firm is a price taker and cannot raise prices. To move towards being a price maker, a firm must differentiate its product, not make it more homogeneous or simply increase its price.
Step-by-step explanation:
A firm in a perfectly competitive market is known as a price taker, meaning it must accept the market-determined equilibrium price of its product. Firms cannot simply raise their prices without risking the loss of all their sales to competitors. In a perfectly competitive market, if a firm is dissatisfied with the market price, it cannot raise the price even by a cent, as customers will move to another seller offering the product at the market price.
To become a price maker and have some control over pricing, a firm would need to differentiate its product, perhaps through branding or creating unique features that competitors do not offer. Finding ways to make a product more homogeneous would further entrench the firm as a price taker by erasing distinctions between its products and those of its competitors.