The elevator oligopoly
There are five leading international companies that specialize in elevators, escalators, and moving walkways. Together they cover around 65% of the world market and the percentage would be higher except that they have a little more competition in Asia. While they make some money selling the systems, the big money is in maintaining them. While new buildings are a cyclical business, elevator maintenance brings in steady income.
The elevator and escalator industries have high barriers to entry, since they are based on complex technology perfected over many years, Moreover, these businesses are not for the part-timer, as they have serious potential issues in product liability.
The five big companies are:
- US-based Otis Elevator, a division of United Technologies, with around 23% of the worldwide business, 23% in the US, and 30% in Europe
- Swiss-based Schindler Group, with around 13% of the worldwide market, 15% in the US, and 31% in Europe
- German Thyssen-Krupp, with around 9% worldwide business
- Finnish Kone Corporation, also around 9%
- Japanese Mitsubishi, part of the great industrial conglomerate, with about 9% also, and strongest in Asia.
The only other significant players are Japanese industrial conglomerates Hitachi, Toshiba, and Fujitec, which have almost all of their sales in Asia.
9:55:45 PM 
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