Standard Oil
Rockefeller's company that from 1870-1911 established and maintained an industry-wide pecking order controlling 90% of US oil refining.
John D. Rockefeller's company that from 1870-1911 established and maintained an industry-wide pecking order controlling 90% of US oil refining. The biological parallels to pecking order establishment are exact.
Standard Oil's establishment phase (1870-1880) involved direct combat (price undercutting, competing refineries), coalition building (acquiring defeated competitors), and hierarchy crystallization (Standard Oil Trust formation). Maintenance phase (1880-1906) used status signals: price leadership, infrastructure dominance, and financial strength.
Hierarchy collapsed when maintenance costs exceeded benefits. By 1910, Standard Oil spent 15% of revenue fighting hierarchy challenges (up from 5% in 1880). The 1911 Supreme Court breakup demonstrates that hierarchies based on suppression rather than coalition support require constant energy input and eventually fail.
Key Leaders at Standard Oil
John D. Rockefeller
Founder
Architect of industry-wide pecking order through systematic dominance establishment
Cautionary Notes on Standard Oil
- Hierarchy based on suppression not coalition
- Rising maintenance costs predicted collapse
- Despotic control requires constant energy input