The Economist (2014) article “Everybody wants to rule the world” discussed the phenomenon of Internet monopolies that rarely allow new businesses to grow and expand to the increased threat of competition. The article stated that the majority of large and successful businesses that operate with the help of the Internet (Amazon, Alibaba, Google, Facebook, etc.) are fighting very hard to prevent fresh and new businesses from entering the market and capturing at least the smallest share.
However, the regulators worry that large corporations with millions of followers worldwide tend to abuse their power and influence in order to establish a monopoly in the area of their operation. For example, the European Parliament issued a resolution addressing Google to split its search engine into separate commercial services (The Economist, 2014). The e-commerce giant Amazon is also facing some scrutiny on the part of the community, especially writers and publishers that question the company on the antitrust grounds. On the other side of the argument was the opinion that the Internet monopolies are very beneficial for users who have an opportunity to choose products or services from the abundant selection.
The article provided an in-depth analysis of how online monopolies try to capture the largest chunk of the market and make sure that new businesses do not succeed. Since a monopoly is a market where one large firm is practically in full control of the sector, the situation with large Internet corporations perfectly fits the description. An example of a large company pressuring a new competitor can be seen from the conflict between Uber and Lyft. As mentioned by Lyft’s brand representatives, Uber was using unethical methods of limiting Lyft’s performance (pressuring drivers to leave the company, disrupting the operation of the app, etc.). Therefore, the competition on the Internet service market is on the rise, and monopolies such an Uber put in extra effort to preserve what they have already achieved.
The article gave a better understanding of the processes within monopolies as well as how they apply to the sphere of e-commerce. Thus, the views on the competition on the Internet market shifted dramatically with the emergence of the globally-renowned corporations such as Amazon and Google. While it the past, it has generally been asserted that the Internet is a sphere where businesses could compete on equal terms, the anti-competitive practices and strategies employed by large monopolies undermine the chances of new and independent companies from entering the market. Furthermore, the protests of small businesses, as well as Internet entrepreneurs against anti-monopolistic practices, have never brought any significant results since large corporations put no effort into responding to the external concerns – all they care about is more revenue (Carter, 2012).
Since outside protests against anti-competitive practices have never been perceived by the Internet monopolies as relevant, the key advice for battling against the unethical practices of companies like Amazon or Uber is the establishment of the laws that would facilitate fair competition on the Internet so that small businesses have an opportunity to grow and develop. Despite the fact that monopolies offer customers an abundance of high-quality products, it is crucial to give smaller companies a chance to facilitate innovation and create new market segments. While the majority of the Internet monopolies are legal and occur naturally (Investopedia, 2016), the efforts of large corporations to prevent new businesses from entering the market are counter-productive and harmful for entrepreneurship.
References
Carter, T. (2012). Former Google witness says monopoly hurts small businesses. Web.
Investopedia. (2016). Monopoly. Web.
The Economist. (2014). Everybody wants to rule the world. Web.