CONSEQUENCES OF THE GROWTH OF THE POWER OF LARGE COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD: EFFECTS ON EMPLOYMENT AND SMALL COMPANIES

One of the important reasons to explain the growth of world unemployment is related to the great power of large companies that dominate many industries around the world. The objective of this paper is to show how this process works and what are the consequences. In recent years, and even before COVID-19, there was an incredible concentration of strength and wealth in the hands of few companies. They are responsible for the main sectors of the world economy, such as automotive, technology, banking, retail, and pharmaceutical industry. These super large companies present in almost all sectors are always growth-driven, as the objective is permanently to increase their scales. This market concentration should theoretically make companies more efficient and once a scale economy is achieved they can charge lower prices and offer better quality for their merchandise. However, this is not what we see. What we see is that companies using robots, 3Dprinters, A.I. reduce their cost and eliminate employment and competitors. Therefore, the question is if there will be competition in the next few years in the major sectors of the world economy or if the main sectors will become monopolies headed by one very powerful company. To sum up, we have reached the point where modernization needs to be deeply questioned by society. Is it worthwhile to eliminate jobs and consequently consumption?