Mergers

With the economy stagnant and companies sitting on ever-increasing piles of cash, mergers and acquisitions are building to pre-recession levels.  This story goes into the corporate psychology that would compel executives to do this.

But the average investor, employee, and customer should not follow along.

In an economy where a simple handheld app can upend industries to the point where worldwide strikes ensue (a la Uber), what is the benefit of assembling a bureaucratic organization?  The information-driven economy has never been better for smaller start-ups and entrepreneurs to take on new markets quickly, without needing vast infrastructure.

Large conglomerates worked when the economy was based on lowering the marginal cost of producing widgets.  Now that the marginal cost of sharing information is essentially zero, this strategy is not going to work.