Attention Economy


Friday, July 24, 2020

Reconsidering US Industrial Structure – Is Bigger Always Better?

Tim Wu notes:
“… the central dogma of American business strategy: maximization of size and scale, ideally to the point of monopoly. Most of America’s large national corporations are built on this model. The exemplars, like pharmaceutical companies, airlines and cable operators, have particularly deep “moats” (barriers to competitive entry like patents) and fat profits.
This bigger-is-better, dominate-the-industry strategy is a major reason the American economy is as oligarchical and homogeneous as it is. It leads to large national companies that richly reward shareholders and executives while limiting workers’ salaries and reducing the prospects for smaller or local competitors. The sale of flour is no different”.