Services are not “one sector”, they’re generally considered a category of sectors, and they comprise a majority of all first-world economic activity. If something is true of the service sectors, then it’s true of the majority of the economy.
Your eleven business sectors are not all dominated by huge conglomerates. Automotive production is, but automotive sales aren’t. Construction isn’t. Electronics isn’t. Finance is mixed bag, depending on the sub-sector. Healthcare isn’t. Insurance has big conglomerates on the backend, but lots of small independent salespeople on the frontend. Internet infrastructure is dominated by large companies, but the volume of small e-companies operating on that infrastructure is massive. Oil and gas is more concentrated than most of these sectors, but I’d still guess that you’ve never looked at the numbers enough to notice the long tail of medium-to-small oil producers (I have seen some of those numbers). Pharma is also relatively concentrated, and there the pressure toward aggregation is real. Retail has a long tail. Telecoms is concentrated, though it’s become less concentrated in recent decades.
Note that, in each of these sectors there do exist large conglomerates. That does not mean that the industry is dominated by conglomerates. The big conglomerates are highly visible and salient; the small companies are not.
So out of these, you’re right on maybe half of them if I’m generous. Overall, it sounds like you’re making a really strong claim without ever having looked at the data, and the data does not back the claim.
Retail is a prime example of consolidation—think of Walmart,
Sales by the 20 largest food retailers totaled $515.3 billion in 2016, accounting for 66.6 percent of U.S. grocery store sales, up from 42.2 percent in 1996. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in the summer of 2017. (Source)
Fast forward to 2020, “Amazon and Walmart are like two elephants wrestling, and all the other retailers in the U.S. are the grass” (Source).
Telecoms is concentrated, though it’s become less concentrated in recent decades.
Telecom is another classic example of consolidation.
A long antitrust case completed in 1984 led to the old AT&T being broken into seven regional Bell operating companies and the much smaller new AT&T.
Less than 30 years later, in 2009 the Department of Justice started to look into whether AT&T and Verizon were abusing the market power they had amassed in recent years.
Now… you don’t have to take my word for it. Google for “consolidation in _____ industry” and you are going to see the phenomenon being repeated everywhere.
You still seem to be missing the key point: if you want to claim that industries tend toward concentration in general, citing particular concentrated industries isn’t going to cut it. You need to argue that industries which don’t concentrate don’t exist (or are at least rare), not merely that industries which do concentrate do exist. That requires a more comprehensive view. You cannot get there just by picking particular industries and arguing that they’re concentrated.
You still seem to be missing the key point: if you want to claim that industries tend toward concentration in general, citing particular concentrated industries isn’t going to cut it.
Well… I gave you some examples in trillion-dollar industries and asked for counter-examples.
Many of your counter-examples—car dealerships, spas, hair salons, etc—are niche markets.
Few of them were multi-billion industries, and they provide more examples of consolidation.
Just google for “consolidation in restaurant industry” and you will find articles like “6 reasons for restaurants’ massive consolidation wave”, “Deals and consolidation dominate restaurant industry”.
“With the rise in demand for their service, combined with the dire situation COVID-19 has created for most of the population, platforms such as Uber Eats and GrubHub are facing increased scrutiny over restaurant fees that can range from 10% to 40% of gross transactions, according to restaurant owners. (...)
In the future, retailers and customers can expect to pay even more in delivery fees, as the few delivery conglomerates monopolize the market and limit retailers’ ability to sustain a profitable business.”
Services are not “one sector”, they’re generally considered a category of sectors, and they comprise a majority of all first-world economic activity. If something is true of the service sectors, then it’s true of the majority of the economy.
Your eleven business sectors are not all dominated by huge conglomerates. Automotive production is, but automotive sales aren’t. Construction isn’t. Electronics isn’t. Finance is mixed bag, depending on the sub-sector. Healthcare isn’t. Insurance has big conglomerates on the backend, but lots of small independent salespeople on the frontend. Internet infrastructure is dominated by large companies, but the volume of small e-companies operating on that infrastructure is massive. Oil and gas is more concentrated than most of these sectors, but I’d still guess that you’ve never looked at the numbers enough to notice the long tail of medium-to-small oil producers (I have seen some of those numbers). Pharma is also relatively concentrated, and there the pressure toward aggregation is real. Retail has a long tail. Telecoms is concentrated, though it’s become less concentrated in recent decades.
Note that, in each of these sectors there do exist large conglomerates. That does not mean that the industry is dominated by conglomerates. The big conglomerates are highly visible and salient; the small companies are not.
So out of these, you’re right on maybe half of them if I’m generous. Overall, it sounds like you’re making a really strong claim without ever having looked at the data, and the data does not back the claim.
Isn’t it? Think of a subcategory.
Lenovo, HP, Dell and Apple dominate 3⁄4 of the computer market.
Samsung, Apple, Huawey and Xiaomi dominate 3⁄4 of the smartphone market.
I could go on and on.
Retail is a prime example of consolidation—think of Walmart,
Sales by the 20 largest food retailers totaled $515.3 billion in 2016, accounting for 66.6 percent of U.S. grocery store sales, up from 42.2 percent in 1996. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in the summer of 2017. (Source)
Fast forward to 2020, “Amazon and Walmart are like two elephants wrestling, and all the other retailers in the U.S. are the grass” (Source).
Telecom is another classic example of consolidation.
A long antitrust case completed in 1984 led to the old AT&T being broken into seven regional Bell operating companies and the much smaller new AT&T.
Less than 30 years later, in 2009 the Department of Justice started to look into whether AT&T and Verizon were abusing the market power they had amassed in recent years.
Now… you don’t have to take my word for it. Google for “consolidation in _____ industry” and you are going to see the phenomenon being repeated everywhere.
Or read “America’s monopoly problem, explained by your internet bill”.
You still seem to be missing the key point: if you want to claim that industries tend toward concentration in general, citing particular concentrated industries isn’t going to cut it. You need to argue that industries which don’t concentrate don’t exist (or are at least rare), not merely that industries which do concentrate do exist. That requires a more comprehensive view. You cannot get there just by picking particular industries and arguing that they’re concentrated.
Well… I gave you some examples in trillion-dollar industries and asked for counter-examples.
Many of your counter-examples—car dealerships, spas, hair salons, etc—are niche markets.
Few of them were multi-billion industries, and they provide more examples of consolidation.
Just google for “consolidation in restaurant industry” and you will find articles like “6 reasons for restaurants’ massive consolidation wave”, “Deals and consolidation dominate restaurant industry”.
How about the small restaurants? According to “Food Delivery Consolidation: Good For Now, But Not For Long”, platforms such as Uber Eats and GrubHub are taking 10% to 40% of gross transactions:
“With the rise in demand for their service, combined with the dire situation COVID-19 has created for most of the population, platforms such as Uber Eats and GrubHub are facing increased scrutiny over restaurant fees that can range from 10% to 40% of gross transactions, according to restaurant owners. (...)
In the future, retailers and customers can expect to pay even more in delivery fees, as the few delivery conglomerates monopolize the market and limit retailers’ ability to sustain a profitable business.”