We analyze the nature of global competition, based on oligopolistic reaction and multiple market competition among multinational firms from five different countries in the tire industry. Generally, the firms' investment patterns are related to the presence of competitors, to multiple market competition, and to characteristics of the host country, during and after the consolidation of the industry. As far as the investment decision is concerned, the identity of the competing firm and the number of competitors in a market seem to be important parts of the strategic consideration. Thus, the results of our model suggest that the tire industry is global; however, the nature of competition has changed after the consolidation of the industry.

An oligopoly (from the Greek, few sellers) is a market that is dominated by a few large and powerful players. As Steve Hannaford documents with numerous examples, virtually every industry today—from medical equipment to airlines, toy retailing to oil—is trending in this direction, in the greatest movement toward industry consolidation since the turn of the 20th century. Charting the course of this trend around the world, Hannaford examines the motivations behind consolidation resulting from mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, and alliances; how companies exert political pressure to their advantage; and how the actions of the most dominant players—such as Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Viacom, Dell, ExxonMobil, Citigroup, and others—affect the choices we make at the supermarket, the drugs we are prescribed, and the movies we watch. Everyone who reads the newspapers is aware of the dizzying pace of mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, and alliances, between big companies and small companies in every industry. Such deals, along with the growing social and political clout of the biggest companies, are critical issues for the economy and for our future as consumers. Charting the course of this trend around the world, Hannaford examines the motivations behind consolidation into corporate empires, how companies exert political pressure to their advantage, and how the actions of the most dominant players, such as Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Viacom, Dell, ExxonMobil, Citigroup, and others, affect the choices we have at the supermarket, the drugs we are prescribed, and the movies we watch. Considering the implications of industry concentration on competition, technological innovation, business management, strategy, consumer behavior, and politics, Hannaford paints a provocative, but ultimately balanced, picture of big business and its impact on society.

The Myth of Capitalism tells the story of how America has gone from an open, competitive marketplace to an economy where a few very powerful companies dominate key industries that affect our daily lives. Digital monopolies like Google, Facebook and Amazon act as gatekeepers to the digital world. Amazon is capturing almost all online shopping dollars. We have the illusion of choice, but for most critical decisions, we have only one or two companies, when it comes to high speed Internet, health insurance, medical care, mortgage title insurance, social networks, Internet searches, or even consumer goods like toothpaste. Every day, the average American transfers a little of their pay check to monopolists and oligopolists. The solution is vigorous anti-trust enforcement to return America to a period where competition created higher economic growth, more jobs, higher wages and a level playing field for all. The Myth of Capitalism is the story of industrial concentration, but it matters to everyone, because the stakes could not be higher. It tackles the big questions of: why is the US becoming a more unequal society, why is economic growth anemic despite trillions of dollars of federal debt and money printing, why the number of start-ups has declined, and why are workers losing out.

An indispensable guide to strategic best practices for business mergers Thirteen years ago, the experts at A. T. Kearney embarked on a landmark, worldwide study of business mergers. Encompassing 25,000 companies across 24 industries in 53 countries, the study revealed much crucial information that was previously unknown about business consolidation. This book shares those revelations and insights with senior executives, consultants, and industry analysts involved in the merger process. More important, it builds on those findings to present readers with a solid game plan for winning the consolidation game. Readers learn about the consolidation cycles through which industries pass, how to identify where in the cycle their industry currently lies, how to leverage that knowledge in determining which organizational changes they need to make and when they need to make them, and how to develop and deploy the most successful merger strategies.

As industries worldwide move toward consolidation, niche companies need to take advantage of strategies that are forward-thinking and anticipate new trends. Beating the Global Consolidation Endgame identifies nine key strategies that niche companies must master in order to outperform their markets and gain the largest benefits from consolidation. It draws from a landmark study conducted by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney of more than 600,000 small to mid-sized niche companies over a 15-year period. A.T. Kearney thought leaders Dr. Fritz Kroeger, Dr. Andrej Vizjak, and Michael Moriarty reveal nine successful Endgame niche strategies while explaining how these strategies are most viable at certain points during consolidation. In order to time the strategies accurately, all decision makers must know what stage of industry consolidation they're in, along with the implications of each stage. This ensures a company's survival and success against global consolidators. Taking you through the Merger Endgame Theory lifecycle, the authors show you how to develop stable niche strategies by: Determining your industry's Endgame position and expected evolution of consolidation in coming years Identifying industry sectors with comparable models to illuminate strategic success factors for your sector Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of Endgame consolidation winners and losers Spotting potential market splits and new configurations for the value-creation chain Determining the best niche options and the best sequence for executing them These action steps are supported by case studies of leading companies around the world, including BMW, NetJets, Swatch, Ducati, and KPMG--which show how these niche fighters developed competitive advantage, survived market collapses, and delivered superior customer service while increasing their market share.

Economics scholars and policymakers have rung alarm bells about the increasing threat of consolidation within industrial sectors. This paper examines the importance of industrial concentration in U.S. defense acquisition in two ways: first, a direct relationship between concentration and performance outcomes; and second, a mediating relationship, where concentration influences performance through reduced competition for defense acquisition. The study created a large contract dataset incorporating economic statistics on industrial sectors and analyzed it using multilevel logit models. The study finds that subsector concentration correlates with greater rates of termination. Contrary to the hypothesis, competition is associated with higher rates of termination, and only single-offer competition is significantly associated with lower rates of cost ceiling breaches. Taken together, the results are consistent with the literature on the risk of concentration's connection with market power but also suggest that the mechanisms of competition are worthy of future study.