Giants of the Global South: Market Concentration Across Industries and Regions

As capital flows into emerging markets, where does the greater strategic opportunity lie: challenging a few giants in a concentrated market, or battling for differentiation in a crowded one?

Our latest breakdown highlights which industries and regions are most dominated by a corporate “big five,” and what that means for competition worldwide. Overall, the pattern uncovered tells us three key things about competition and concentration across geographies:

1.Emerging Markets Are Highly Concentrated

In Latin America, a handful of firms in each industry dominate everything from Agriculture (84.5%) to Health Care (80.5%). That level of concentration suggests very high barriers to entry, whether regulatory, capital-intensive infrastructure, or distribution networks, that prevent challengers from gaining traction.

2.Mature Markets Are More Fragmented

North America and EMEA never top 50% in any industry: their highest slices are under half the market. This implies more robust competition potentially manifesting as lower entry barriers, greater access to financing, more developed antitrust regimes, and a larger pool of domestic rivals.

3.Asia-Pacific Falls in the Middle

APAC shows strong concentration in consumer-facing sectors (Apparel & Footwear at 44%, Legal at 48.6%), but more moderate levels in industrial or R&D-heavy areas (Pharmaceuticals at 21.8%). It reflects a market still consolidating in fast-growth segments even as other industries remain open.While there's no single answer to our initial question, the path to opportunity can be less about choosing a market structure and more about matching your strategy to it.