- Big Four (companies)
Big Four can refer to several sets of four dominant companies that constitute oligopolies in their respective fields and regions:
Record labels
The
big four record labels :
*Sony Music Entertainment
*EMI
*Universal Music Group
*Warner Music Group Television networks
The big four
television networks in theUnited States :
*ABC - American Broadcasting Company
*CBS - Columbia Broadcasting System
*NBC - National Broadcasting Company
*Fox Broadcasting Company The "Big Four"
ITV companies in the United Kingdom from 1956 to 1968:Associated-Rediffusion (Rediffusion London from 1964 onwards), ATV, ABC andGranada Television Railroads
The
Big Four British railway companies were four largest railway companies in theUnited Kingdom in the period 1923-1947.The Big Four Irish railway companies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were
Great Southern & Western Railway ,Midland Great Western Railway , Dublin & South Eastern Railway and Great Northern Railway."
The Big Four " was the collective name given to four railroad magnates in the western U.S.:Collis P. Huntington ,Leland Stanford ,Mark Hopkins , andCharles Crocker ."Big Four" was also the nickname for a railroad in the
United States of America officially called theCleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (later absorbed by theNew York Central Railroad ).Wireless
The four major U.S.
wireless providers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, andT-Mobile .Meat packing
In 1902, meat packers Gustavus Swift,
J. Ogden Armour , and , along with the investment banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb, and Company, formed the National Packing Company for the purpose of fixing prices, dividing up markets, and suppressing union efforts to organize industry workers. The group became known the "Meat Trust" and the "Big Four" of the meat packing industry, and developed such a monopoly that the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the venture to disband in 1905.Elevators/escalators
The four largest elevator/escalator companies in the world are Otis,
ThyssenKrupp , Schindler, andKone .Motorcycles
The four main Japanese motorcycle makers are
Honda , Kawasaki,Suzuki and Yamaha.upermarkets
The big four supermarkets in the United Kingdom,
Tesco ,Asda ,Sainsbury's andMorrisons , had a combined market share of 74.3% in 2005.Accounting firms
In the
United Kingdom andUnited States it may refer to the four major accounting firms:PriceWaterhouseCoopers ,KPMG ,Ernst & Young andDeloitte Touche Tohmatsu .Law firms
The largest
law firm s in theUnited Kingdom :Clifford Chance ,Allen & Overy ,Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer , andLinklaters . Despite being physically smaller,Slaughter & May is usually added to this list of "Magic Circle" due to its sheer profitability and quality of work.The largest law firms in
Japan :Nishimura & Asahi (former Nishimura & Partners),Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu (former Nagashima & Ohno),Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (former Mori Sogo Law Offices), andAnderson Mōri & Tomotsune (former Anderson & Mōri).Banks
In
Australia it refers to the four major banking companies:ANZ Bank ,National Australia Bank ,Westpac Bank and theCommonwealth Bank of Australia .English language schools
The four largest private English language schools (or "
eikaiwa ") inJapan : Nova, GEOS, AEON, and ECC.ystems management
The companies that are the most established and largest in the
systems management industry areIBM Tivoli ,CA Inc. ,HP , andBMC Software .cite web
last = Ludwick
first = Theo
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Movement Among IT Management Big Four
work =
publisher = IT Management: The IT Industry's Web Resource
date =2006-11-28
url = http://www.itmanagement.com/news/ca-introscope-ibm-vallent-112806/
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-01-23 ]References
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