S&P 500
94 companies
Apple
Consumer Electronics / Technology
Apple defied every Silicon Valley orthodoxy - and captured 80% of smartphone industry profits with 25% market share. The lesson: boundaries aren't bar...
Netflix
Entertainment / Streaming
Netflix has died and been reborn three times - DVD rental (1997-2007), streaming service (2007-2013), global content studio (2013-present). Most compa...
Amazon
E-commerce & Cloud Computing
Amazon mastered what kills most companies: strategic reallocation across time horizons. From 1997-2000, Jeff Bezos executed the Pacific Salmon strateg...
Microsoft
Software & Cloud Computing
Microsoft's transformation under Satya Nadella represents one of the most successful metabolic pathway shifts in business history. By 2014, the compan...
Intel
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Intel created the x86 architecture in 1978 and spent four decades running the Red Queen's race - investing $15-20 billion annually in R&D just to main...
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Fast-casual Restaurant
Chipotle marketed 'Food with Integrity' while deferring $2.3 million in annual food safety investments. The 2015-2016 E. coli and norovirus outbreaks...
McDonald's
Quick Service Restaurants
McDonald's represents the most successful example of asexual reproduction in business history. When Ray Kroc encountered the McDonald brothers' San Be...
Visa Inc.
Payment Networks / Financial Services
Visa isn't the biggest company in global commerce - it's the mechanism that makes global commerce work. Processing $14 trillion annually across 200+ b...
Alphabet (Google)
Technology / Holding Company
Alphabet's 2015 restructuring promised moonshots at scale - autonomous vehicles, longevity research, delivery drones. Google would become a holding co...
Berkshire Hathaway
Conglomerate / Insurance / Investments
Warren Buffett's genius isn't picking stocks - it's designing ecosystems. Berkshire Hathaway comprises 60+ wholly owned businesses spanning insurance,...
Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer's 175-year history demonstrates five major phototropic pivots: chemicals to antibiotics (1940s), antibiotics to blockbuster prescription drugs...
Starbucks
Coffee Retail
Starbucks' Australian failure represents the definitive case study of the Phenotype Fallacy - copying the visible expression of success without unders...
Texas Instruments
Semiconductors
Texas Instruments plays two roles in the chapter: as the company that rejected Morris Chang's foundry model in 1985 (later becoming dependent on the e...
Walmart
Retail
Walmart built the most efficient distribution system in retail history, then discovered efficiency has limits. From 38 stores in 1970 to 4,616 US loca...
AT&T
Telecommunications
Telecommunications company that executed large-scale talent redeployment as its landline business declined in the 2010s. AT&T retrained 100,000+ emplo...
Bank of America
Banking / Financial Services
Bank of America appears in the book as one of the distressed companies that Berkshire Hathaway invested in during the 2008 financial crisis. Buffett's...
Costco
Retail / Warehouse Club
Costco disrupted retail not with technology or logistics, but with a $60 membership fee. When the company launched in 1983, conventional wisdom said t...
Goldman Sachs
Financial Services/Investment Banking
September 2008: Lehman Brothers collapses. Bear Stearns is gone. Merrill Lynch sells itself to Bank of America in a desperate weekend deal. Goldman Sa...
Intuit
Financial Software
Financial software company known for its innovative approach to failure through 'failure parties.' When a project is killed, the team throws a party t...
Nvidia Corporation
Semiconductors / AI Hardware
NVIDIA functions as the rate-limiting enzyme of AI development. At $4.63 trillion market cap (December 2025), the company's GPUs process every major A...
Tesla
Automotive / Electric Vehicles
Tesla went all-in on battery electric vehicles in 2008 when every other automaker was hedging. That single strategic bet - choosing speed over optiona...
Abbott Laboratories
Healthcare & Medical Devices
Abbott demonstrates resource partitioning across medical devices, diagnostics, nutrition, and pharmaceuticals. First-mover advantage in continuous glu...
AbbVie
Pharmaceuticals
AbbVie exhibits vertical integration in pharmaceutical development with resource partitioning across immunology, oncology, and neuroscience. First-mov...
Accenture
Consulting & Technology Services
Accenture operates global consulting and technology services with economies of scale across industries. Network effects from client relationships and...
Adobe
Software/Design
Adobe spent $20 billion trying to acquire Figma in 2022 - the price of admitting that building browser-native design tools would cost more than buying...
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)
Semiconductors
AMD's stock was at $3 in 2014, its CPU architecture was failing, and extinction seemed inevitable. CEO Lisa Su made the ultimate company-betting decis...
American Express
Financial Services
American Express operates closed-loop payment network demonstrating platform economics between cardholders and merchants. Network effects where mercha...
Amgen
Biotechnology
Amgen exhibits vertical integration in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing of complex biologics. First-mover advantage in protein therapeu...
Applied Materials
Semiconductor Equipment
Applied Materials dominates semiconductor equipment with first-mover advantage in deposition and etching. Network effects from fab customer relationsh...
BlackRock
Asset Management
BlackRock dominates asset management with network effects and economies of scale across $10+ trillion AUM. Platform economics through Aladdin risk man...
Bristol Myers Squibb
Biopharmaceuticals
Bristol Myers Squibb operates biopharmaceuticals with first-mover advantage in cancer and cardiovascular therapies. Vertical integration across drug d...
Broadcom
Semiconductors & Infrastructure Software
Broadcom demonstrates vertical integration in semiconductor design and enterprise software through strategic acquisitions. Platform economics emerge f...
Caterpillar
Heavy Equipment Manufacturing
Caterpillar dominates heavy equipment manufacturing through economies of scale and global dealer network. Network effects via parts distribution and s...
Charles Schwab
Financial Services
Charles Schwab is a discount brokerage founded in 1971 that demonstrated exemplary crisis alarm system management during Black Monday (October 19, 198...
Chevron
Oil & Gas
Chevron demonstrates vertical integration across oil and gas exploration, refining, and retail distribution. Economies of scale in capital-intensive o...
Cisco
Technology / Networking
Exemplar of network organization era (1990-2010) operating as a virtual corporation with extensive outsourcing, representing the shift to centralized...
Coca-Cola
Beverages
American multinational beverage corporation. Major case study demonstrating relationship-based territorial defense in the fountain market from 1950-19...
Colgate-Palmolive
Consumer Goods
Colgate-Palmolive dominates oral care globally with first-mover advantage and economies of scale. Mutualistic networks with distributors and dentists.
Comcast
Telecommunications & Media
Comcast demonstrates vertical integration across broadband infrastructure, cable television, and content production through NBCUniversal. Economies of...
Constellation Brands
Beverages
A U.S. beverage company ($9 billion revenue, 2022) that exemplifies extinction avoidance through portfolio pruning - identifying and divesting busines...
CVS Health
Healthcare Services
CVS operates integrated healthcare through vertical integration of pharmacies, insurance (Aetna), and clinics. Network effects from retail locations a...
Danaher
Diversified Industrials & Life Sciences
Danaher demonstrates resource partitioning across life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental technologies. Vertical integration via Danaher Busines...
Domino's Pizza
Fast Food
Domino's transformed through digital ordering innovation and delivery optimization. Platform economics where convenience drives volume funding technol...
Eli Lilly
Pharmaceuticals
Eli Lilly achieved exponential growth through breakthrough diabetes and obesity drugs demonstrating first-mover advantage in GLP-1 receptor agonists....
Estee Lauder
Beauty & Personal Care
Estee Lauder controls prestige beauty through brand portfolio strategy and vertical integration. First-mover advantage in prestige skincare and makeup...
Exxon Mobil
Oil & Gas
Exxon Mobil exhibits vertical integration across oil exploration, refining, and distribution with massive economies of scale. Resource partitioning ex...
Gap
Fashion Retail
Fashion retailer representing traditional slow-fashion model. With 6-9 month design-to-store cycles, Gap achieves only 38% gross margins with 40-50% m...
General Mills
Packaged Foods
General Mills controls iconic breakfast cereal brands with first-mover advantage. Resource partitioning across premium and mass-market categories.
Hershey
Confectionery
Hershey dominates U.S. chocolate with first-mover advantage and vertical integration from cocoa sourcing to retail. Trust ownership provides patient c...
Home Depot
Home Improvement Retail
Home Depot exhibits economies of scale in home improvement retail through massive purchasing power. First-mover advantage in big-box hardware retail c...
Honeywell International
Industrial Conglomerate
Honeywell operates across aerospace, building technologies, and industrial automation with vertical integration. Resource partitioning serves distinct...
Johnson & Johnson
Pharmaceuticals/Consumer Goods
The pharmaceutical giant that turned a crisis into a masterclass by doing something radical: telling the truth and paying the cost. In September 1982...
JPMorgan Chase
Banking & Financial Services
JPMorgan Chase exhibits economies of scale across investment banking, consumer banking, and asset management. Network effects emerge from payment proc...
Kellanova (formerly Kellogg Company)
Food Products
Engineered calorie density like acorns packed by squirrels - Pringles stack 150 chips per tube, Cheez-It crams cheese powder onto crackers. Shelf-stab...
Kellogg's
Packaged Foods
Kellogg's pioneered breakfast cereal with first-mover advantage through brand recognition. International snack brands demonstrate resource partitionin...
Keurig Dr Pepper
Beverages
Beverage portfolio spreads risk like mixed-species forest - hot coffee, cold sodas, flavored waters each capture different consumption niches. Over 12...
KeyCorp
Banking
Regional banks function like beaver dams - collecting capital from depositors upstream, holding reserves, releasing loans downstream to borrowers. Key...
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Consumer Goods
Processes plant fiber into absorbent products that manage waste and moisture, like fungi breaking down organic matter. Tissues and diapers capture flu...
Kirby Corporation
Maritime Shipping
Transports bulk liquids through river networks, like salmon navigating watersheds. Tank barges move chemicals and petroleum products along inland wate...
Knight-Swift Transportation
Transportation & Logistics
Operates North America's largest trucking fleet through swarm intelligence, coordinating thousands of trucks like ant colonies manage foraging trails....
Kohl's
Department Stores
Operates as a retail generalist, offering diverse product categories like omnivorous species exploit multiple food sources. Their strategy combines ex...
L3Harris Technologies, Inc.
Aerospace & Defense
Integrates communication, sensing, and electronic warfare systems across air, sea, space, and cyber domains like nervous systems integrate sensory str...
Laboratory Corporation of America (Labcorp)
Healthcare Services
Operates diagnostic testing networks that detect disease markers in biological samples like immune systems identify pathogens. Their laboratories anal...
Linde
Industrial Gases
Linde operates global industrial gases with economies of scale in production and distribution. Network effects from on-site production facilities and...
Lockheed Martin
Aerospace & Defense
Lockheed Martin maintains defense contracting dominance through vertical integration of aerospace and weapons systems. First-mover advantage in stealt...
Lowe's Companies
Home Improvement Retail
Lowe's operates home improvement retail with economies of scale in purchasing. Network effects from store locations and mutualistic networks between r...
Mastercard
Payment Networks / Financial Services
The payment network that learned the most profitable war is one you never finish. Mastercard holds 25-30% of the global payment network market, formi...
Medtronic
Medical Devices
Medtronic operates medical devices with first-mover advantage in cardiac pacemakers. Network effects from physician training and vertical integration...
Merck
Pharmaceuticals
Merck demonstrates vertical integration across drug discovery, clinical development, and global manufacturing. Resource partitioning across therapeuti...
Meta
Technology / Social Media
Meta exemplifies both the power and peril of thermal regulation at scale. The company (formerly Facebook) operates within a thermal window, having kil...
Micron Technology
Semiconductors
Micron operates memory semiconductors with economies of scale in DRAM and NAND production. Convergent evolution with Samsung and exponential growth th...
Morgan Stanley
Investment Banking
Investment bank that survived the 2008 financial crisis by converting to a bank holding company and gaining Fed support.
NextEra Energy
Utilities & Renewable Energy
NextEra demonstrates first-mover advantage in renewable energy through massive wind and solar deployment. Economies of scale in clean energy productio...
Nike
Apparel & Footwear
Nike demonstrates network effects through brand recognition and athlete endorsements that reinforce market position. Platform economics via direct-to-...
Oracle
Enterprise Software
Enterprise software company cited as example of incomplete temperature transition. Tried maintaining both perpetual and subscription models equally wi...
Palantir Technologies
Enterprise Software / Data Analytics
Palantir evolved from obligate symbiont to facultative mutualist. Founded in 2003 to serve intelligence agencies, the company could not survive withou...
PepsiCo
Food & Beverages
PepsiCo demonstrates resource partitioning across beverages and snack foods with economies of scale in manufacturing. Mutualistic networks enable cros...
Procter & Gamble
Consumer Goods
Consumer goods competitor to Unilever used as benchmark. Unilever underperformed P&G by 43% over 7 years during matrix management peak (1989-1996). Af...
Qualcomm
Semiconductors
Qualcomm exemplifies success as an ecosystem participant rather than keystone controller. As an ARM licensee, the company designs chips using ARM's in...
RTX Corporation
Aerospace & Defense
RTX combines aerospace and defense through vertical integration of engines, avionics, and weapons systems. Economies of scale in military contracts an...
Salesforce
Technology/Enterprise Software
Salesforce launched cloud CRM in 1999 when 'software as a service' was still heresy. SAP sold million-dollar licenses and 18-month implementations; Sa...
ServiceNow
Enterprise Software
ServiceNow dominates IT service management through platform economics and network effects. First-mover advantage in cloud-based workflow automation wi...
Southern Company
Electric Utilities
Southern Company operates regulated utilities with economies of scale in power generation. First-mover advantage in nuclear plant development and vert...
T-Mobile
Telecommunications
T-Mobile exhibits predator-prey dynamics disrupting wireless carrier oligopoly through aggressive pricing. Economies of scale post-Sprint merger with...
Target
Retail
American retail corporation operating discount department stores. Exemplifies the suburban fox territorial strategy in contrast to Walmart's rural app...
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Life Sciences & Laboratory Equipment
Thermo Fisher demonstrates vertical integration in life sciences tools from lab equipment to bioproduction. Economies of scale in scientific instrumen...
Under Armour
Athletic Apparel
Under Armour disrupted Nike's dominance through moisture-wicking technology. Predator-prey dynamics as Nike and Adidas competition eroded differentiat...
Union Pacific Railroad
Railroad Transportation
Union Pacific operates largest North American railroad network with network effects from route density. Economies of scale in freight transportation a...
United Parcel Service
Logistics & Package Delivery
UPS operates global logistics with network effects from route density and economies of scale in package delivery. First-mover advantage in integrated...
UnitedHealth Group
Healthcare Services & Insurance
UnitedHealth demonstrates vertical integration across insurance, pharmacy benefits, and healthcare delivery through Optum subsidiaries. Economies of s...
Verizon
Telecommunications
Verizon exhibits economies of scale in wireless network infrastructure and spectrum ownership. Network effects where coverage quality attracts subscri...
Walt Disney
Entertainment & Media
Disney demonstrates vertical integration across content creation, distribution, and theme park experiences. Platform economics through Disney+ streami...
Wells Fargo
Financial Services
The bank that said 'customer-first' while paying employees to commit fraud - and learned that chemical signals always trump verbal signals. Wells Far...
Yum! Brands
Fast Food
Yum! Brands operates KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut with economies of scale through shared infrastructure. Resource partitioning targets different occa...