Companies with Monopoly and oligopoly Have existed throughout the history of capitalism. They start as small organizations but gradually they cover almost the entirety of their sector.
Both in Monopoly as in oligopoly There are regulations to ensure competition, but these practices present a difficulty to be tested by the plaintiffs.
Oligopoly is a market situation that occurs when the offerers or providers of a product or service are reduced to a small number of participants.
In this context, all the members of the sector are aware of the actions of their competitors. Oligopoly occurs when few companies share more than 70% of the market.
The entry of new companies is unlikely for economic or legal reasons. This situation can be due to the characteristics of the product or service or the composition of the market.
The monopoly, on the other hand, occurs when a company or economic agent has the exclusive privilege on the production and commercialization of a certain type of product or service.
This can occur because the goods are homogeneous, due to the existence of impediments to the entry of new bidders or through governmental intervention.
The oligopolistic situations can occur in different branches of the economy, whereas the monopolistic situations are less frequent. This is because in all countries an attempt is made to avoid dominant or abusive situations.
Between these two formats there is an intermediate option called the duopoly. It represents the cases in which all the goods or services of a productive segment are held by two competing companies.
In this article I will review some cases of companies that have exclusivity in the production of goods or services in the world. Many of them have regional competitors, which give legal validity to their practices.
List of 35 companies with monopoly or oligopoly
1- Microsoft
It is one of the most controversial cases of monopoly and dominance on the planet. Its sector of production of goods and services is the market of hardware and software, where it generated a revolution since its appearance.
Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates Y Paul Allen . Microsoft is responsible for the development of the Windows operating system and its add-ons. He has different legal disputes over monopoly in the European Union and the United States.
2- Fuels
Another sector similar to telecommunications is fuels, where there is a small group of companies that are dedicated to this activity in the world, whose names and brands may vary from country to country, although many have a global presence.
3- Coca Cola
The soft drinks company has other strong competitors in the world market, but is investigated by monopoly practices in Mexico.
With presence in more than 200 countries, in many of them it has been buying other brands of the sector. At present, it owns more than 400 different labels. In this way, it reduced the market in many territories to their interests, which generates a strong controversy.
4- Telecommunications companies
The telecommunication services sector, whether Internet or telephony, has in all the countries of the planet a small group of actors.
In all cases they are examples of legal monopolies or oligopolies, where the names of the companies vary according to the nation.
5- Public services
Companies that provide electricity, gas and water services in all countries have a dominant market position, whether oligopolistic or monopolistic. In all cases, there are few providers because of the specific characteristics of the sector.
In this specific case, the market situation is due to the complexity of the services and the need to have control over them. They are services of great importance for society.
6- Cable TV
It is a situation similar to that of fuels, telecommunications and public services. There are a few suppliers in this country, many of them operating worldwide with satellite systems. In this sector, the entire market is held by a few companies.
7- Bayer and Monsanto
The purchase operation that the German pharmaceutical company made to stay with the US producer of transgenics is at the center of the controversy, as it could be a case of monopoly.
Bayer has a large share of the global drug and licensing market. With the purchase of Monsanto, it could take a dominant position in the seed and pesticide segments of the world.
8- Google
The company of the most important search engine of the Internet is investigated by monopoly in the United States and Europe. He is credited with establishing abusive market conditions for Android phone manufacturers.
In addition, it is accused of giving more relevance in its search engine to the contents of its own company, which was classified as unfair competition.
9- Pepsico
It maintains a dominant oligopolistic position with 22 brands of foodstuffs and great world distribution.
Depending on where it operates, it controls a greater or lesser market share, which stands out in any case.
10- Unilever
With more than 400 brands worldwide, this Dutch company is one of the leading producers of food and hygiene goods and shares with other few companies its position in the market.
There are 25 brands that represent 70% of the sales of Unilever, which has a presence in much of the globe with its products. Depending on the region, it controls a greater or smaller market share, which in all cases is significant.
11- Johnson & Johnson
Another case similar to that of Unilever, Pepsico and Mars. It controls 75 brands and occupies a privileged position in the sector of edible and hygiene products. It has a great worldwide presence.
Also, depending on the region in which it operates controls more or less market.
12- Mars
With 100 brands under its orbit, this company shares the food consumer goods market with a few other companies on this list. Being an oligopoly, all actors know the actions of their competitors and adjust their strategies to this.
Like Unilever and Pepsico, depending on the region controls a greater or smaller market share, equally significant.
Procter & Gamble
Better known as P & G, its situation is similar to that of other companies mentioned above. It has a total of 300 different brands, with which it distributes its goods across the globe.
Like Unilever, Pepsico, J & J and Mars. Its power varies depending on the area where it operates, but also has a relevant role in the market.
14- Kraft
Kraft has 150 brands, as other companies control the food and hygiene sector in an oligopolistic situation, in which all actors know the market actions of all the other competitors and may even have common strategies in some parts of the world.
Like the other companies named above, their power in the market varies according to the place.
15- Nestlé
With 31 brands and 146 products, Nestlé shares the world food market in an oligopolistic situation with the six companies mentioned above.
16- General Mills
Like Nestlé, Pepsico, Kraft, P & G, Unilever, Mars and J & J, it has more than 100 brands and 600 products in a segment with little competition in the world.
17- Kellogg's
This company has more than 65 brands of different products with which it joins the global oligopoly of food companies that dominate the gondolas of the world.
18- Luxottica
This Italian corporation is one of the great producers of spectacles of the world. Although many people do not know, it is very likely that they have used their products.
Luxottica dominates 80% of the world optical market and among its main brands are: Ray-Ban, Persol, Oakley, Chanel, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu, Donna Karan, Stella McCartney and Tory Burch.
19- Bimbo
It is the largest baking company in the world, has 169 factories across the globe and 100 brands, with which it controls much of the market.
It was investigated for monopoly practices in the United States and Canada, and in many other countries there are regulations that do not take a dominant position of the sector.
Together with Fargo controls almost 80% of the world market within its sector. This puts it in a situation of real competition.
20- Fargo
It is another bakery similar to Bimbo, even in some countries they are united, which complicates their legal situation. Together they dominate almost 80% of the global market.
21- Apple
It is a case similar to Microsoft, because it has a unique and exclusive product, but its monopoly charge is due to its practices to make your phone, iPhone, present better performance for its applications, to the detriment of other companies.
22- YKK
Perhaps nobody knows, but almost everyone has made use of the products of this Japanese company ever in life. It is dedicated to the production of zippers.
It is one of the main producers of this type of goods of the world, with plants in 88 countries. Despite its large size, YKK is still a family business.
Although there are many other competitors, it is a case of oligopoly because this Japanese company has a large part of the market for the quality and efficiency of its products.
23- AB InBev
It is another oligopolistic case of a company that gained notoriety due to the union with another great company.
When the giants Anheuser-Busch and InBev partnered to produce beer, they dominated much of the world market with brands such as Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Skol and Michelob Ultra, among others.
24- Wal Mart
This giant supermarket company is accused of monopoly practices in the United States as its actions influence the market directly.
It jeopardizes retail businesses and the small-scale farming sector. Its economic effect is felt 32 kilometers away each time they set new prices.
25- PEMEX
It is the only oil company in Mexico. In the absence of competition, this state-owned company has a monopoly position in the local extraction market.
26- Mondelez
It shares with companies like Nestlé, Pepsico, Kraft, P & G, Unilever, Mars and J & J, the food products oligopoly. It has great influence in the market of sweet biscuits, salads and sweets.
Its portfolio is made up of important global brands, many of which compete with each other.
27- Danone
With multiple brands and activities around the world, Danone has a dominant position in the dairy, water, infant nutrition and medical nutrition segment.
Its situation is oligopolistic in almost all the countries where it markets its goods, since it has great influence in the market actions.
28- Vanderbilt
It is one of the earliest cases of monopoly in history. During the 19th century this company, founded by Cornelius Vanderbilt , Was one of the most important in the shipping industry until it was focused on trains.
Slowly, it was crushing its competitors to become a monopoly company that united the East and West coasts of the United States, passing through all the important urban centers of the country.
27- The real
Its position in the market of the cosmetics is always under suspicion by a situation of dominion. Influences 30% of the global market. Although it has competitors, its position is advantageous and can influence all the commercial segments.
30- Standard Oil
The company founded by John Rockefeller In 1870 was one of the first dedicated to the oil refinery and another one that gave rise to the idea of monopoly.
After only 20 years of its creation, it controlled 88% of the United States market. This monopoly situation did not last forever, the sector began to add new players who reduced their market share to a situation of real competition.
31- Intel
It is one of the world's largest manufacturers of integrated circuits for computers and processors. In some of its products its market share reaches 70%.
While Intel's position as a monopoly can not be established because there are competitors, it was accused by AMD of suspicious strategies to keep the entire business.
AMD 32
Call Advanced Micro Devices is a company of semiconductors, processors and other inputs for computers. It shares with Intel and NVIDIA an oligopolistic situation within the world market.
In the graphics card segment, one of the fastest growing assets in the electronic world, it shares almost a duopoly situation with NVIDIA.
33- NVIDIA
Another graphic chip company that has a predominant situation within its market. Many of its products get up to 70% of the global market share.
34- Quanta
This computer manufacturer in Taiwan is another case of a large oligopolistic company whose products invade the world with different brands. That is why his name, perhaps, is not so well-known, but his goods are.
It is the largest manufacturer of notebooks or laptops on the planet and among its customers are Apple Inc., Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, 2 Alienware, Amazon.com, Casper, Cisco, Fujitsu, Gericom, Lenovo, LG, Maxdata, MPC, Research In Motion, Sharp Corporation, Siemens AG, Sony, Sun Microsystems, and Toshiba.
35- DuPont
Perhaps, its name is not so popularly known, but it is the world's leading manufacturer of processed chemicals. For example, nylon and lycra are formulas of this American company.
With the patent on the two most used synthetic fibers in the world, especially in the textile sector, DuPont has a dominant position in the market, although currently it has not been proved that it practices practices of unfair competition.
The company had numerous legal litigations for cases of monopolies in different products throughout its more than 200 years of history, since its foundation in 1802.