M
50 companies
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...
Marvel Entertainment
Entertainment & Media
Marvel filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 1996 with $700 million in debt after the comic book market collapsed. Investor Ike Perlmutter provided...
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...
Maersk Line
Shipping & Logistics
The world's largest container shipping company, headquartered in Denmark with 17% global market share and 700+ vessels. Maersk demonstrates fractal lo...
Mercado Libre
E-commerce / Fintech
Mercado Libre ('Free Market'), founded by Marcos Galperin in 1999, became Latin America's e-commerce leader by solving the region's fundamental trust...
Meta/Facebook
Technology/Social Media
Social media and technology company that demonstrates effective decomposition through open-sourcing. When Facebook reduced internal usage of React Nat...
Microsoft Japan
Technology
Japanese subsidiary of Microsoft that conducted a landmark 4-day workweek experiment in August 2019. By closing offices every Friday and implementing...
Mitsubishi Motors
Automotive
Japanese automaker added to the Renault-Nissan Alliance in 2016, transforming the two-party coalition into a three-party structure. The addition was i...
Moderna
Biotechnology / Pharmaceuticals
Moderna spent 10 years and $2.5 billion with zero revenue. No mRNA drug had ever been approved when they started in 2010. The allocation was extreme:...
Mondragon Corporation
Worker Cooperative/Manufacturing
Mondragon is the world's largest worker-owned cooperative - 80,000+ worker-owners, €11.2 billion annual revenue, founded in Spain's Basque Country in...
Movie Gallery
Video Rental
Movie Gallery is mentioned as one of Blockbuster's traditional competitors. Blockbuster's selective membrane served them well defending against tradit...
Mailchimp
Marketing Technology
Email marketing company cited as example of ectotherm business model - bootstrapped, profitable from day one, grew with market demand like a cold-bloo...
MakerDAO
Cryptocurrency / DeFi
A Decentralized Autonomous Organization managing a decentralized stablecoin, making decisions through token-based voting where proposals are submitted...
Manhattan Associates
Technology
Manhattan Associates develops, sells, deploys, and maintains software solutions designed to manage supply chains, inventory, and omnichannel operation...
Manning & Napier
Financial Services
Manning & Napier is an independent investment management firm providing investment strategies and solutions for institutional and private wealth clien...
Marathon Petroleum Corporation
Energy
Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an integrated downstream energy company that refines, markets, and transports petroleum products primarily in the Un...
MarketAxess Holdings
Financial Services
MarketAxess Holdings operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities providing liquidity across global credit markets. The company...
Marriott International
Hospitality
Marriott International is the world's largest hotel company with more than 30 brands and 8,000 properties across 139 countries. The company operates a...
Mars
Consumer Goods/Pet Food
Global confectionery and pet food company that acquired P&G's pet food brands (Iams, Eukanuba) for $2.9B in 2014 as part of P&G's portfolio pruning st...
Maserati
Automotive/Luxury
Italian luxury car manufacturer that serves as a cautionary example of diluted signaling. Under Fiat Chrysler ownership in the 2010s, Maserati attempt...
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...
McKinsey & Company
Management Consulting
Management consulting firm demonstrating preferential attachment in hiring - strong reputation attracts better applicants, allowing selective hiring t...
Medicine Man Technologies
Cannabis
Medicine Man Technologies is a cannabis consulting and products company providing operational and technical consulting services to cannabis cultivator...
Medtronic
Medical Devices
Medtronic operates medical devices with first-mover advantage in cardiac pacemakers. Network effects from physician training and vertical integration...
Meituan
Technology/Food Delivery
Chinese shopping platform for locally found consumer products and retail services. Ongoing territorial war with WeChat (2019-present) as food delivery...
MercadoLibre
Technology/E-commerce
Latin American e-commerce and fintech company founded in 1999 by Marcos Galperin in Argentina. Started as an eBay-style auction marketplace during the...
Mercedes-Benz
Automotive
Mercedes-Benz is a leading global manufacturer of premium and luxury vehicles, renowned for innovation, safety, and design excellence, with a strong f...
Merchants Bancorp
Financial Services
Merchants Bancorp is a diversified bank holding company offering multi-family housing and healthcare facility financing, mortgage warehouse financing,...
Merck
Pharmaceuticals
Merck demonstrates vertical integration across drug discovery, clinical development, and global manufacturing. Resource partitioning across therapeuti...
Merck KGaA
Pharmaceuticals
Merck KGaA is a leading science and technology company operating in healthcare, life science, and electronics sectors, combining pharmaceutical innova...
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...
Metro AG
Retail
German retail company that purchased 85 of Walmart's German stores for $500M in 2006 when Walmart exited after 9 years of losses.
MGIC Investment Corporation
Insurance
MGIC Investment Corporation is the holding company for Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, the nation's leading provider of private mortgage insu...
Micron Technology
Semiconductors
Micron operates memory semiconductors with economies of scale in DRAM and NAND production. Convergent evolution with Samsung and exponential growth th...
Microsoft Azure
Cloud Computing
Microsoft's cloud computing platform, launched in 2010 as a follower to AWS. Azure demonstrates successful late-entrant strategy, growing to approxima...
Midea Group
Home Appliances
Midea Group is one of the world's largest home appliance manufacturers, producing air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, and owning brands...
Miro
Software
Miro provides collaborative whiteboard platform for distributed teams. Network effects through viral adoption with exponential growth.
Mistral AI
Artificial Intelligence
Mistral AI develops efficient large language models with open-source focus. First-mover advantage in European frontier AI.
Mitsubishi
Diversified Conglomerate
One of Japan's largest conglomerates with roots dating to 1870, founded as a shipping company by Yataro Iwasaki during Japan's Meiji Restoration. Mits...
Molson Coors Beverage Company
Brewing
Molson Coors is a multinational brewing company formed through the SABMiller + Molson Coors merger (2007), representing one of the major players in th...
monday.com
Software - Collaboration
monday.com provides cloud-based Work OS platform for building custom workflow applications.
Mondelez International
Packaged Foods & Snacks
Mondelez operates global snack brands including Oreo and Cadbury with economies of scale. First-mover advantage in emerging market brand building.
MongoDB
Database Software
MongoDB provides document-oriented database platform with flexible schemas. First-mover advantage in NoSQL databases with strong developer network eff...
Monster Beverage
Beverages
Monster Beverage capitalized on energy drink growth through Coca-Cola distribution partnership. Convergent evolution with Red Bull and mutualistic net...
Monzo
Financial Services/Digital Banking
UK digital bank that demonstrated chemical signal alignment during a 2019 PIN security breach. When customer PINs were inadvertently logged in plainte...
Moonpig Group
Retail
Moonpig is the UK's leading online greeting cards and gifting platform. The company allows customers to personalize cards and send gifts with next-day...
Morgan Stanley
Investment Banking
Investment bank that survived the 2008 financial crisis by converting to a bank holding company and gaining Fed support.
MTN Group
Telecommunications
MTN Group is Africa's largest mobile telecommunications company, providing network access, digital services, and fintech solutions to over 280 million...
Muddy Waters Research
Financial Research
Investment research firm founded by Carson Block that exposed Luckin Coffee's fraud through intensive verification methods including surveillance foot...
Munich Re
Reinsurance
Munich Re is the world's largest reinsurance company, providing risk management solutions to insurance companies globally and operating primary insura...