| The articles (and books/papers they reference) have copious examples. Here are just a few: Search Engines
Top four market share: 98.5%
Major companies:
Google: 64.1%
Yahoo: 18.0%
Microsoft: 13.6% Arcade, Food & Entertainment
Complexes
Top four market share: 96.2%
Major companies:
CEC: 52.2%
Dave & Buster’s: 35.0% Soda Production
Top four market share: 93.7%
Major companies:
The Coca-Cola Company: 41.2%
PepsiCo: 33.6%
Dr Pepper Snapple Group: 15.4% Lighting & Bulb Manufacturing
Top four market share: 91.9%
Major companies:
General Electric Company: 32.9%
Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV: 31.7%
Siemens AG: 27.3% Major Household Appliance
Manufacturing
Top four market share: 90.0%
Major companies:
Whirpool Corporation: 43.8%
AB Electrolux: 20.7%
General Electric Company: 17.1%
LG Electronics: 9.2%
Market concentration Mobile OSes (iOS and Android) are another, even if no
one can make money on the software itself anymore. Banking software (FIS, Fiserv, Jack Henry, and D+H): 96% total Internet service providers (a few large players, with a smattering of regional ones. Some areas are served only by a single company.) Wireless providers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile) have roughly 80% of the market. Here's a nice infographic: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/the-char... This is not to say that this applies to every market. There are competitive markets without clear winners (in some of the above cases, the markets are competitive oligopolies - but that doesn't help the "I just want to make a nice living as a small player" idea - you still need to be huge in those cases.) However, with the increase in mass communication, economies of scale, picked low hanging fruit, clustering effects, and concentration of talent/capital/connections, the trend has been towards winner-take-all (either through pure domination, like search, or industry consolidation, like health insurance.) Eking out a living at the margins is possible, but as I stated in the other comment, has its own set of attendant risks. |