How to compete against the five technological giants

The big 5 have carefully eliminated their competitors and retained market dominance in several ways including:

1. Horizontal Integration - Simply put, these companies aggressively expand by buying out their competitors. This strategy leaves consumers with no choice. Not only does horizontal integration eliminate competition, it also bolsters their revenue. If you're not being bought out, you're being forced out.

2. Necessary Interdependence - The other way competitors are controlled is by forcing an interdependence. The tech companies control basic and necessary services such as cloud computing and in order to function, other companies are forced to rely on them.

3. Consumer Intelligence - Each of these companies focus on gathering user data just to be a step ahead of not only their users but also other competitors. They have the resources to invest heavily in this. No one understands the needs of consumers better than them and as a result they are the preferred option.

It is not an impossible task to beat tech giants. 

• Companies like Snapchat, Linkedin, Twitter are major competitors for Facebook.

• Spotify competed against Apple and Google in terms of music streaming and they are now worth more than $50 billion.

• Since the pandemic, Zoom has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the video conferencing market and they are also worth more than $50 billion.

• Shopify challenged Amazon and is now worth more than $100 billion.

So how can competitors beat Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple

• Focus on branding

• Ensure customer loyalty

• Build a friendly user interface 

• Offer niche products

• Differentiate your product

• If you can't differentiate, improve your product

• Differentiate your company structure

• Plan for the long term instead of going out with a quick bang

• Don't create an ads business, prioritise the user. It is also difficult to beat the top 5 when it comes to ads.