Buyer Power/Supplier Power: What it means to be a customer!

Yesterday, we talked about how we felt the U.S. economy has observed a structural shift. At the beginning of the 1900s, manufacturers (in part led by the auto industry) centralized and began to benefit from economies of scale. These manufacturers were able to exert a significant amount of influence over a highly fragmented distribution base (the “mom and pop” retailers.) Then we saw a reversal in “Porter’s 5 Forces” where larger, more efficient buyers (Big Box retailers) evolved, causing the U.S. manufacturing base to fragment (which corresponded well with ...