Anti-Trust Action Doesn’t Help Small Biz
Jul 21st, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: ResearchIf you were under the mistaken impression that federal antitrust activity helped to safeguard the interests of small businesses against predatory larger competitors, a recently released study puts a tentative kibosh to that idea. The researchers examined several cases in the retail groceries industry and one case in the timber industry, and found that FTC antitrust intervention did not prevent declines in small firm participation in the effected regional markets. This turned out to be the case whether there was vigorous intervention or almost none at all. It’s not that the FTC isn’t doing its job; the feds are concerned with protecting competition and that often seems to translate into protection the competitions of the industry giants. The paper also found, however, that big box mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart did more damage to smaller firms than consolidation and that they fared best in communities that resisted the blandishments of those big box retailers. Food for thought, yes?
