> I mean, if there used to be 3 car companies making everything that went into
> a car, and now there are still three, but they merely put together cars from
> pieces made by other companies - that may look like monopoly power has
> decreased because there are more players in the industry as a whole - but has
> actual economic power been parted out along with the parting out of jobs to
> suppliers?
In a perverse kind of way, yes. In 1970, the Big Three made up 70% of world auto production, whereas Toyota, Honda, Renault, VW, BMW and Daimler have all joined the party since then. Similarly, IBM is now just one of many computer firms, AT&T one of many telcoms, etc. The economy isn't any more democratic now, it's just that the multinational market mediates what used to be the province of white male American corporate managers, i.e. decisions about purchasing, styling, etc. Internally, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that Toyota decentralizes lots of decisions to the shopfloor, gives its engineers lots of leeway, and invests long-term in vast networks of suppliers. In theory, just-in-time systems could give workers in supply firms a huge bargaining chip vs. firms, but the UAW, to my knowledge, hasn't done a whole lot of organizing in supplier firms (though if anyone knows differently, feel free to correct me on this).
-- Dennis