Consolidation--The Juggernaut Hits the Wall

"It is anybody's guess as to the number of companies that will be around in 2010," Thompson admits. "I doubt that there will be only five or six companies left. Our capitalistic system is a wonderful mechanism for preventing that type of dominance. Every time an organization becomes unresponsive to its customers, the opportunity to serve the customer better is presented—and there always seems to be somebody anxious to do it."