The Big Three in Business

Being perceived as one of the top three in a market, regardless of industry, industry sector or market size, is critically important.  These market leaders are or can be referred to as The Big Three. 

Big Three U.S. automakers: Ford, GM, Chrysler

Big Three U.S. broadcast television networks:

NBC, ABC, CBS

Big Three national economies: U.S., Japan, China

Big Three denim jeans makers: Levi Strauss, Lee,

Wrangler

Big Three light bulb manufacturers: Philips, Osram,

GE Lighting

Big Three U.S. breakfast cereal makers: Post,

Kellogg’s, General Mills

Big Three U.S. retailers: Walmart, Kmart, Target  

Big Three global retailers: Walmart, Asda, Carrefour   

Big Three food retailers in the U.S.: Walmart, Kroger,

Costco

Big Three food retailers in Canada: Loblaws, Metro,

Sobeys

Big Three food retailers in Slovenia: Mercator, Spar,

Tus

Big Three U.S. food services companies:

Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo 

Big Three chocolate manufacturers: Hershey’s, Nestle,

Cadbury’s

Big Three U.S. ice cream manufacturers: Breyers,

Edy’s/Dreyer’s, Blue Bell

Big Three U.S. fast food hamburger restaurants:

McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King

Big Three U.S. office products retailers: Staples, Office

Depot, Office Max 

Big Three e-book sellers: Amazon, Apple,

Barnes & Noble

Big Three U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon, AT&T,

Sprint Nextel

Big Three management consulting firms: BCG,

Bain & Company, McKinsey

Big Three credit rating agencies: Standard & Poor's,

Moody's, Fitch  

Big Three U.S. colleges: Harvard, Yale, Princeton 

Name #4 in any category above.  Some are hard to imagine.  A business manager or owner knows his or her business must be perceived as one of the three biggest or best or cheapest.  The categories depend on market segmentation, and market segmentation depends on different perceptions of the company, organization, product or service.  “History shows that the first brand into the brain, on the average, gets twice the long-term market share of the No. 2 brand and twice again as much as the No. 3 brand.  And the relationships are not easily changed.  The leader brand in category after category outsells the number two brand by a wide margin….Many marketing experts overlook the enormous advantages of being first.”

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology”

Three Transformative Events

During the highly volatile and transformative period since 2000, we have witnessed three significant ongoing events or episodes.  They have not yet played out.  These three events about which much has been written are:

simultaneously developing economies in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other countries,

the emergence of state-based capitalism in many of these same states,

and the collapse of financial systems in established capitalist economies such as the United States and the countries of western Europe.  As a result the world economic order has been recast, and the great financial shuffle will continue for years to come. 

Those who follow these developments have three worries about the effect of the ascendant emerging markets.  “The first worry is about direct competition for things that are in more or less fixed supply: geopolitical supremacy, the world’s oil and raw materials, the status and perks that come with being the issuer of a trusted international currency.…The second set of anxieties relates to job security and pay.  Ever stronger trade links between rich and would-be rich countries will mean a reshuffle in the division of labor around the world, creating new jobs and destroying or replacing existing ones….A third concern, which is at odds with the first two, is that the emerging markets are prone to crises that can cause a still-fragile world economy to stumble.  Sluggish GDP growth in the rich world means developing countries have to fall back on internal spending, which in the past they have not managed well.  It raises the risks of overspending, excessive credit and inflation that have spurred past emerging-market crises.”

from Threes, Chapter 6, “Threes in Economics and Finance”

The Three-class System

The common notion of social classes includes three generally accepted and traditional divisions—lower, middle and upper—that are held in balance more or less by a socio-economic equilibrium.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) formulated a different and more complex three-class theory of social stratification that included Social Class, Social Status and Political Party as distinct elements.  Weber’s approach reflects the interplay among wealth, prestige and power.  He argued that power can take a variety of forms.  A person’s power can be shown in the social order through their status, in the economic order through their class, and in the political order through their party.  Thus, class, status and party are each aspects of the distribution of power within a community.   Weber was particularly interested in the transformation of societies by economic wealth building and concluded some societies by virtue of prevailing religious orientation were better able to embrace capitalism as an engine of growth. 

from Threes, Chapter 5, “Threes in Psychology and Sociology”

Three Keys to Constructing the Medieval Cathedrals of Europe

The NOVA episode, “Building the Great Cathedrals,” that aired recently revealed three architectural secrets of these massive stone and glass Gothic masterpieces that have stood for nearly 1,000 years in Europe. 

“Amazingly, Gothic engineers built thin, super-tall walls, made, not of stone, but mostly of glass.  And somehow, these walls of windows support towering ceilings of stone.  How did medieval builders pull off such a dramatic transformation?”

They used pointed, not rounded, arches, flying buttresses to support the arch and the walls and the ribbed vault that transferred the weight of the enormous ceilings to interior columns.  Totally fascinating.