Charles Brown wrote:
>CVS is knocking out small drugstore owners.
Which could increase competition, not decrease it. The small drugstore owner can be a local monopoly, with limited selection and high prices; the chains compete with each other, have larger selections and lower prices.
I just don't buy it that there's a trend towards increasing monopolization. The auto sector in the US in the 1950s was dominated by the big three; now there are something like ten major players, and the big three's market share is down to 58%. Steel is no longer US Steel and Bethlehem; it comes from all over. There's no such thing as price leadership anymore. Oil prices are set on futures exchanges, not by the Texas RR Commission. Etc. Lenin and Hilferding based their arguments on German-style trusts; that's just not relevant anymore.
Doug
The "big ten"?
Are you including Peugeot and Citroen? =;*>
Are the other 7 BIG auto manufacturers only BIG because they hooked up with the big 3....
Or maybe that's the other way around?
Globalization is soooo confusing!
Also... Would you suggest that drug store BIGBOXES are better for all around health of the community, or just the temporal health of the individual's wallet?
When I worked auto parts, the type of cars we dealt with were not "A" items on the inventory sheets with most part suppliers.
Kragen's couldn't compete with me for an MG starter, or a brake part for a fiat 128... and I couldn't compete on the cost of an '89 Chevy starter. There is room for both types of operations...
The other place this is readily apparent would be bookstores.
Unfortunately, it's more the predatory marketing tactics, and constant blitzkreig of mas media advertising for the BIGBOXES, rather than their service and stock availability, that tends to be the big draw away from local business.
Not really pricing.
Another example of the dumbing down of the American consumer
Leigh