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73 companies
Spotify
Music Streaming / Technology
When Daniel Ek launched Spotify in Sweden in 2006, record labels viewed streaming as legalized piracy - micro-payments devaluing music far below CD sa...
Samsung
Conglomerate (Electronics, Shipbuilding, Insurance, Theme Parks)
Samsung is a $240 billion conglomerate spanning electronics, shipbuilding, life insurance, theme parks, and hotels - 270,000+ employees operating acro...
Stripe
Financial Technology / Payments
Stripe made payment integration take seven lines of code instead of six months and $100,000. But that simplicity required 10× more engineering effort...
Shopify
E-commerce Platform & Technology
Shopify started when Tobias Lütke wanted to sell snowboards online and found every platform inadequate. So he built his own - then realized the infras...
Safaricom / M-Pesa
Mobile Financial Services
Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile operator, launched M-Pesa ('mobile money') in 2007, creating one of the most successful examples of business symbios...
SAP
Enterprise Software
The German software giant that maintained perfect apical dominance for 20 years - then nearly died because it couldn't prune fast enough. SAP was fou...
Sony
Consumer Electronics & Gaming
Sony is a study in contrasts: brilliant at sensing market shifts, vulnerable to breaches of trust. When Kodak failed to act on its own digital camera...
Starbucks
Coffee Retail
Starbucks' Australian failure represents the definitive case study of the Phenotype Fallacy - copying the visible expression of success without unders...
SABMiller
Beverages/Brewing
British-South African multinational brewing company that AB InBev attempted to acquire in 2016 using 'partnership' language. Industry response to this...
Sears
Retail
Sears' extinction is a masterclass in how dominant species die - not from catastrophic events, but from ignoring incremental environmental shifts. Onc...
Siemens
Industrial/Medical Equipment
Siemens is a 177-year-old German industrial conglomerate that demonstrates how large organizations scale without collapsing under coordination costs....
Signify
Lighting
Signify is a lighting company spun off from Philips Lighting in 2016. The company pioneered 'light as a service' for commercial customers, retaining o...
Skanska AB
Construction/Engineering
Skanska, one of the world's largest construction and project development firms founded in Sweden in 1887, builds projects where acoustic communication...
Slack
Technology/Enterprise Software
Slack entered the enterprise software market with a weapon competitors didn't expect: color. In a landscape dominated by boring blue-and-gray tools, S...
SoftBank Group
Investment / Conglomerate
SoftBank appears as the crucial capital provider enabling Grab's ecological release strategy. SoftBank invested $2 billion in Grab's Series B - the la...
SpaceX
Aerospace
SpaceX exemplifies founder-fatal migration strategy - Elon Musk invested $100 million of his $180 million PayPal windfall into the company, nearly goi...
Standard Oil
Oil & Gas
John D. Rockefeller's company that from 1870-1911 established and maintained an industry-wide pecking order controlling 90% of US oil refining. The bi...
Safeway
Retail Grocery
Grocery chain that planned partnership with Theranos for 800 locations before the technology fraud was exposed. Lost hundreds of millions when Therano...
SAIC Motor Corporation
Automotive
SAIC Motor is China's largest automotive manufacturer by sales volume, producing vehicles under various brands and joint ventures with Volkswagen and...
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...
Samsung Electronics
Technology/Electronics
Samsung Electronics is one of the world's largest technology companies, headquartered in Suwon, South Korea. The company exemplifies sophisticated mod...
Sanofi
Pharmaceuticals
Sanofi is a global healthcare company focused on discovering and delivering innovative medicines and vaccines in immunology, oncology, rare diseases,...
SAP SuccessFactors
Technology/Enterprise Software
Cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software platform, originally founded as SuccessFactors in 2001 (performance management software), then acq...
Sasol
Energy & Chemicals
Sasol is an integrated chemicals and energy company leveraging coal and gas technologies to produce liquid fuels, chemicals, and electricity, a global...
Saudi Aramco
Energy / Oil & Gas
The world's largest oil company - valued at $2+ trillion, producing 10+ million barrels daily - proves that in capital-intensive industries, size isn'...
Scale AI
Artificial Intelligence
Scale AI provides data labeling for training AI models. Platform economics with economies of scale in annotation services.
Schneider Electric
Electrical Equipment
Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy management and automation, providing digital energy and automation solutions for homes, buildings, dat...
Sea Limited
Technology & E-commerce
Sea Limited is Southeast Asia's leading internet company with three core businesses: Garena (gaming), Shopee (e-commerce), and SeaMoney (digital finan...
Seacoast Banking Corporation
Regional Banking
Community bank holding company providing integrated financial services through Seacoast Bank. Serves individuals and businesses in Florida with tradit...
See's Candies
Confectionery Retail
The $25 million chocolate company that taught Warren Buffett how to build Berkshire Hathaway. When Berkshire acquired See's Candies in 1972, it was B...
SelectQuote
Insurance Distribution
Direct-to-consumer distribution platform for insurance products helping consumers comparison shop for coverage. Specializes in senior health, life, an...
Sephora
Beauty Retail
Sephora transformed beauty retail through platform economics with open-sell format. Network effects through brand curation and loyalty program.
Sequoia Capital
Venture Capital
Top-tier venture capital firm demonstrating preferential attachment in startup funding. Startups backed by Sequoia gain advantages in hiring, customer...
ServiceNow
Enterprise Software
ServiceNow dominates IT service management through platform economics and network effects. First-mover advantage in cloud-based workflow automation wi...
ServisFirst Bank
Commercial Banking
Commercial banking institution providing business banking services primarily in the southeastern United States. Focuses on relationship banking with c...
Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd.
Retail & Convenience Stores
Seven & i Holdings operates the 7-Eleven convenience store chain and various retail businesses globally. The company is the world's largest convenienc...
Seventh Generation
Consumer Goods/Household Products
Seventh Generation is mentioned as a Unilever acquisition demonstrating modular brand portfolio management where acquired brands maintain autonomy in...
SF Holding
Logistics & Delivery
SF Holding is China's leading express delivery and logistics company, known for premium service quality with integrated air cargo, ground transportati...
Shake Shack
Fast-casual Restaurant
Fast-casual burger chain that increased food safety investments after Chipotle's crisis, demonstrating industry-wide behavioral change from observing...
Shein
E-commerce
Shein is a Chinese fast-fashion e-commerce company that has become one of the world's largest online retailers through AI-driven trend prediction and...
Shell plc
Energy
One of the world's largest oil companies with revenues of $380 billion (2023), providing a contemporary case of attempted succession - transitioning f...
ShipBob
Logistics
Third-party logistics (3PL) provider recommended for seed-stage e-commerce companies. Charges $3-6/order all-in, representing 20-30% infrastructure ta...
Shiseido
Cosmetics/Consumer Goods
Japanese cosmetics giant with over 150 years of history, facing classic power law challenge of extreme SKU proliferation. Analysis revealed approximat...
Shopee (Sea Limited)
E-commerce
Shopee is Southeast Asia's leading e-commerce platform, part of Sea Limited, offering C2C and B2C marketplace services. The company has grown to domin...
Shoprite Holdings
Retail & Consumer
Shoprite Holdings is Africa's largest food retailer, operating supermarkets, furniture stores, and pharmacies across 13 African countries.
Siemens Energy
Energy Technology
Siemens Energy is a global energy technology leader focusing on power generation, transmission, and storage solutions including gas turbines, wind tur...
Siemens Healthineers
Healthcare Technology
Siemens Healthineers is a leading global medical technology company providing diagnostic and therapeutic solutions including imaging, laboratory diagn...
Singapore Airlines
Aviation
Singapore Airlines exemplifies 50 years of sustained phototropic discipline toward a single resource gradient: premium long-haul business travelers. C...
SK Hynix
Semiconductors
SK Hynix is one of the world's leading memory semiconductor manufacturers, specializing in DRAM and NAND flash memory chips for computers, servers, mo...
Snowflake
Cloud Data Platform
Snowflake's consumption-based pricing mirrors torpor metabolism in endotherms. Like a bear that pays metabolic cost only when active, Snowflake charge...
SoFi Technologies
Financial Technology
SoFi provides digital financial services including loans, investing, and banking products.
SoftBank Group Corp.
Technology & Telecommunications
SoftBank is a multinational conglomerate focused on technology investments, telecommunications, and internet services. The company operates the Vision...
Softcat
Technology
Softcat is a leading IT infrastructure and services provider in the UK. The company helps organizations procure, implement, and manage technology solu...
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...
Southside Bancshares
Regional Banking
Bank holding company providing financial services through Southside Bank primarily in Texas. Offers commercial and consumer banking, mortgage lending,...
SQLite
Software/Database
SQLite is a public-domain database engine embedded in billions of devices - smartphones (iOS and Android), web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), ope...
Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
Gaming & Entertainment
Square Enix is a premier video game publisher formed from the merger of Square and Enix, creators of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises. Th...
SSE
Utilities
SSE is a leading energy company in the UK and Ireland, involved in electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and energy supply with signific...
Standard Bank
Financial Services
Standard Bank Group is Africa's largest bank by assets, operating in 20 countries across the continent and providing comprehensive banking and financi...
Standard Chartered Bank
Banking / Financial Services
British bank formed in 1969 from merger of Standard Bank of British South Africa and Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China. Exemplifies strate...
Statnett
Energy Transmission
Norway's transmission system operator managing the country's electrical grid and HVDC interconnectors to neighboring countries. Statnett operates the...
Stellar Bancorp
Regional Banking
Bank holding company providing commercial banking services to businesses and individuals primarily in Texas and nearby states. Offers lending, deposit...
STMicroelectronics
Technology
STMicroelectronics is a European semiconductor manufacturer. The company designs and produces chips for automotive, industrial, and consumer electroni...
Stock Yards Bancorp
Regional Banking
Bank holding company providing commercial and consumer banking services through Stock Yards Bank & Trust. Serves individuals and businesses in Kentuck...
StoneCo
Payment Processing
Brazilian fintech company providing financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners. Offers payment processing, banki...
Stora Enso
Forestry & Biomaterials
Finnish-Swedish forestry and biomaterials company tracing its origins to 1288 when copper mining began at Stora in Sweden, making it one of the world'...
Substack
Media
Substack enables writers to publish newsletters with paid subscriptions. Platform economics with network effects in independent media.
SuccessFactors
Enterprise Software/HR
Cloud HR platform acquired by SAP in 2012 for $3.4 billion. Represented SAP's aggressive pivot to cloud, announced alongside the brutal decision to su...
Supreme
Fashion/Streetwear
American streetwear brand founded in 1994 that exemplifies runaway selection dynamics. Supreme's box logo - a simple red rectangle with white text - c...
Suzano
Paper & Pulp
Suzano S.A. is the world's largest producer of hardwood pulp and a major producer of paper products, operating with sustainable forestry practices acr...
Sweetgreen
Fast-casual Restaurant
Fast-casual salad chain that increased food safety investments in 2016-2017 after observing Chipotle's costly punishment, illustrating how visible mar...
Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)
Food Delivery & Technology
Swiggy is one of India's largest food delivery platforms, competing with Zomato and offering quick commerce through Instamart. The company has revolut...
Synopsys
Electronic Design Automation
Synopsys provides EDA software and semiconductor IP with oligopoly position. Network effects through design libraries with mutualistic networks in sem...