Airbus

Airbus proved that four weak players can beat one dominant incumbent - if the coalition is architected correctly. When the European consortium formed in 1970, Boeing controlled 80% of commercial aviation. By 2000, Airbus had achieved exact parity. Over 54 years, it never wavered. This is the most successful industrial coalition in modern history.

The genius was mutual dependence as stability mechanism. France (37.9%) handles final assembly, Germany (37.9%) builds fuselages, UK (20%) manufactures wings, Spain (4.2%) produces tail assemblies. No two countries can build aircraft alone. Exit means losing not just your investment but your industrial capability. This structure makes defection more costly than cooperation - the biological principle of mutualism through specialization.

The cost of victory, however, was enormous. Government subsidies totaling $18 billion (later ruled illegal by WTO) enabled Airbus to undercut Boeing on price, but created dependency. The Boeing-Airbus arms race consumed over $100 billion in combined R&D and subsidies from 2000-2020, even as global aircraft deliveries stayed flat. Airbus didn't win by being more efficient; it won by having governments willing to fund a 30-year war of attrition.