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72 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...
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...
Airbnb
Travel & Hospitality Technology
Airbnb's origin story reads like a case study in biological stress response. In September 2008, three founders had $5,000 in the bank, $20,000 in cred...
Alibaba
E-commerce / Technology
Alibaba is a study in strategic symbiosis and territorial limits. When Jack Ma launched Taobao in 2003 to compete with eBay in China, he made a counte...
Airbus
Aerospace
Airbus proved that four weak players can beat one dominant incumbent - if the coalition is architected correctly. When the European consortium formed...
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS is invisible infrastructure that makes the internet possible. The company provides compute (EC2), storage (S3), and networking - boring backend se...
A.P. Moller-Maersk
Shipping & Logistics
The shipping giant that moves 20% of global trade without a central brain - proving that planetary-scale coordination doesn't require centralized cont...
AB InBev
Beverages/Brewing
AB InBev is the world's largest brewer, controlling roughly 30% of global beer volume after acquiring Anheuser-Busch in 2008 and SABMiller in 2016 for...
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...
ASML Holding
Semiconductor Equipment
ASML holds a 100% monopoly on the machines that make modern computing possible - and impossibly expensive. The Dutch company's extreme ultraviolet (EU...
Aldi
Retail/Grocery
The German discounter that proves when environmental pressures are strong enough, everyone evolves the same solution. Founded in 1946 by Karl and The...
Allbirds
Retail/Footwear
The sustainable footwear company that proves convergent evolution can happen in business models as easily as products. Allbirds launched in 2016 as a...
Anheuser-Busch
Beverages/Brewing
American brewing company acquired by InBev in 2008 in what was marketed as a 'strategic combination of equals' but was actually a hostile extraction....
Asahi Glass
Materials / Glass
Japanese glass company that developed competing smartphone glass but arrived 2-3 years behind Corning due to lack of preserved historical research. Th...
Asana
Technology / Productivity Software
Work management platform that implemented 'No Meeting Wednesdays' (renamed 'Maker Day') to protect deep work time. The policy improved product quality...
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...
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...
Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
Apparel Retail
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American lifestyle retailer founded in 1892, operating multiple brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Holl...
Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc.
Sporting Goods Retail
Academy Sports and Outdoors is a leading full-line sporting goods and outdoor recreation retailer operating 301 stores across 21 states. Originally fo...
Acadia Realty Trust
Real Estate Investment Trust - Retail
Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on owning, acquiring, redeveloping and managing retail properties. The company's...
Accenture
Consulting & Technology Services
Accenture operates global consulting and technology services with economies of scale across industries. Network effects from client relationships and...
ACI Worldwide, Inc.
Financial Technology - Payment Processing
ACI Worldwide is a global software company that provides mission-critical real-time payment solutions to corporations. The company powers electronic p...
Adidas
Consumer Goods
Adidas is a global leader in the sporting goods industry, designing and manufacturing athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories, combining performan...
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...
Adyen
Technology
Adyen is a Dutch payment platform offering end-to-end payment solutions. The company provides a single platform for online, mobile, and in-store payme...
Affirm
Financial Technology - BNPL
Affirm is a buy now, pay later platform with transparent installment financing.
AIA Group
Insurance
AIA is the largest publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, operating in 18 markets across the Asia-Pacific region with market leadership in Ho...
Air Liquide
Industrial Gases
Air Liquide is a world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health, operating in over 80 countries with a strong focus on innov...
Airtable
Software
Airtable combines spreadsheet functionality with database capabilities. Platform economics with network effects through no-code adoption.
Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.
Security Software & IoT
Alarm.com is a leading cloud-based platform for smart security and IoT devices. The company provides interactive security, video monitoring, intellige...
Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.
Real Estate Investment Trust - Retail
Alexander & Baldwin is Hawaii's premier commercial real estate company and the state's foremost owner of grocery-anchored retail centers. The company...
Alibaba Group
E-commerce
Alibaba is China's largest e-commerce company, operating retail platforms Taobao and Tmall, and has diversified into cloud computing through Alibaba C...
Alipay
Digital Payments / Fintech
Chinese digital payment platform that bypasses traditional card networks entirely, representing a disruptive threat to the Visa-Mastercard duopoly. Al...
Allianz
Insurance
Allianz is one of the world's largest insurance and asset management companies, serving approximately 125 million customers globally with property-cas...
Altair Engineering Inc.
Software - Engineering & Simulation
Altair Engineering is a global technology company providing software and cloud solutions in simulation, high-performance computing, and artificial int...
Amazon Local
E-commerce / Daily Deals
Amazon's daily deals service that competed with Groupon, demonstrating how easily the daily deals model could be copied.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Cloud Computing
AWS didn't just pioneer cloud computing - it demonstrated the complete arc of forest succession in business form. Starting in 2006 with 57 employees l...
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing platform that demonstrates adaptive radiation through service proliferation. Beginning with the 2002 API Mandate requiring all teams t...
Ambarella, Inc.
Semiconductors - AI & Video Processing
Ambarella develops advanced semiconductor solutions that enable high-definition video and artificial intelligence processing. The company's system-on-...
Ambev
Beverages
Ambev S.A. is the largest brewing company in Latin America and part of Anheuser-Busch InBev, producing brands including Skol, Brahma, Antarctica, and...
AMC Entertainment
Entertainment - Movie Theaters
AMC Entertainment is the largest movie theater chain in the world, surviving near-bankruptcy during the pandemic through retail investor support.
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 Eagle Outfitters, Inc.
Apparel Retail
American Eagle Outfitters is a leading retailer of jeans, apparel, accessories, and personal care products operating globally through its American Eag...
American Express
Financial Services
American Express operates closed-loop payment network demonstrating platform economics between cardholders and merchants. Network effects where mercha...
American National Bankshares Inc.
Regional Banking
American National Bankshares is a financial holding company providing a full range of banking and related financial services. Through its subsidiary A...
Ameris Bancorp
Regional Banking
Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company operating through its subsidiary Ameris Bank, offering a full range of banking services including consumer an...
Ames National Corporation
Regional Banking
Ames National Corporation is a multi-bank holding company providing traditional banking services through its community banks in Iowa. The company offe...
Amgen
Biotechnology
Amgen exhibits vertical integration in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing of complex biologics. First-mover advantage in protein therapeu...
Anduril Industries
Defense Technology
Anduril builds advanced defense technology including autonomous drones. First-mover advantage with vertical integration in defense tech.
Anglo American
Mining
Anglo American is a global mining company with a diverse portfolio including diamonds (De Beers), platinum, copper, iron ore, and other metals, operat...
Anglo American Platinum
Mining & Resources
Anglo American Platinum is the world's largest primary producer of platinum group metals (PGMs), operating primarily in South Africa's platinum-rich B...
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Alcoholic Beverages
AB InBev controls ~25% of global beer through acquisitions and economies of scale. Predator-prey dynamics using scale to squeeze costs while premiumiz...
Ant Group
Fintech
China's largest fintech company demonstrating superlinear scaling through network effects. Ant Group's platforms (Alipay, Yu'e Bao, Sesame Credit) exh...
Anthropic
Artificial Intelligence
Anthropic executes K-selection in an r-selected industry: fewer offspring, higher parental investment, longer development cycles. While OpenAI ships 7...
Applied Materials
Semiconductor Equipment
Applied Materials dominates semiconductor equipment with first-mover advantage in deposition and etching. Network effects from fab customer relationsh...
Aptiv PLC
Automotive Technology & Components
Aptiv is a global technology company enabling the future of mobility through advanced safety, electrification, and vehicle connectivity solutions. The...
ARM Holdings
Semiconductor IP/Technology Licensing
ARM Holdings designs the processor architecture used in 95% of smartphones, nearly all tablets, and billions of embedded devices. The company doesn't...
Arrow Financial Corporation
Regional Banking
Arrow Financial Corporation is a multi-bank holding company headquartered in Glens Falls, New York, serving northeastern New York. Through its subsidi...
Arthur Andersen
Professional Services / Accounting
The accounting firm that forgot a simple truth: when the referee joins the game, the entire sport dies. Founded in 1913 on principles of "absolute in...
Asian Paints Limited
Paints & Coatings
Asian Paints is India's largest paint company and one of Asia's leading paint manufacturers. The company dominates the Indian decorative paints market...
ASOS
Retail
ASOS is a global online fashion and beauty destination for 20-somethings. The platform offers over 85,000 products from own brands and third parties....
AstraZeneca
Pharmaceuticals
AstraZeneca is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing prescription medicines. The company speciali...
Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation
Regional Banking
Atlantic Union Bankshares is the holding company for Atlantic Union Bank, a regional bank serving Virginia and portions of Maryland and North Carolina...
Atlassian
Collaboration Software
Atlassian provides collaboration software including Jira and Confluence. Platform economics create network effects within organizations with viral dis...
Audemars Piguet
Luxury Watches
Swiss luxury watchmaker whose Royal Oak model ($50,000-500,000) represents the ultra-elite tier in executive status hierarchies. Along with Patek Phil...
Auto Trader Group
Technology
Auto Trader is the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace. The platform connects car buyers and sellers, listing new and used vehicles from deale...
Autodesk
Design Software
Autodesk provides design software including AutoCAD and Revit. First-mover advantage in CAD with network effects through file format standards.
Automattic
Technology/Publishing
Distributed-first company (maker of WordPress.com) that designs remote work topology intentionally, demonstrating that organizations can optimize for...
Aviva
Insurance
Aviva is a leading insurance, wealth, and retirement company serving approximately 19 million customers across the UK, Ireland, and Canada.
AXA
Financial Services
AXA is a French multinational insurance firm. The company provides life, health, property, and casualty insurance along with asset management services...
Axon Enterprise, Inc.
Law Enforcement Technology
Axon is a network of devices, apps, and people that helps police and public safety personnel become smarter and safer. The company is known for develo...