Oligopoly: A market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers.[1] Its parallel in political science, oligarchy, translates to power effectively resting with a small number of people.[2]
A recent Forbes article entitled – “Cloud Computing Market May Become An Oligopoly of High-Volume Vendors”[3] – quotes Owen Rogers, senior analyst at 451 Research, who argues that with a few large players – namely, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM – offering similar types of services, the market may be in for a “Cloud Oligopoly.”
The interesting thing about markets is that they follow patterns quite similar to geopolitical movements. In politics, major movements are constantly afoot, avoiding the emergence or expansion of oligarchies. For instance, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa have formed the BRICS[4] alliance, a coalition that is aimed to “balance” their world with the ultimate goal of each member not being such an extreme underdog. This alliance could be in direct response to the financial power of traditional western allies, which by many standards forms an oligarchy.