How 11 firms dominate their markets

Thesis Series #7

Over the past week, I have shared how I approached the initial phase of my PhD research.

It is grounded in the concept of the environment-driven firm:

“there is no single success formula which has universal validity….and the profitability of the firm is optimised when its strategic behaviour is aligned with its environment.” (Ansoff & Sullivan, 1993).

This idea fundamentally shifted how I thought about strategy, and led me to structure my entire PhD around a single proposition:

Companies that align their strategies with external drivers of transformation can achieve market dominance.

Intuitively, it felt right. But I needed to prove it.

To investigate this proposition, I first needed to define market dominance:

What do we mean by ‘market dominance’, how do we calculate it, and what firms meet this threshold?

This was the subject of my first research paper, The Rise of the Superfirm.

I walk through the entire research paper in my thesis series. You can access it here (posts 1-6 cover this paper).

I found it facinating (thankfully).

The next stage of my PhD project was to define external drivers of transformation.

Specifically, what drivers of transformation are firms facing, and how could we organise them in a framework to make them accessible?

I’ll take a break from posting over the holiday period and share how I approached this on 5th January.

Repost this and follow me, Dr. Ian Hallett, to ensure it shows up in your feed.

Wishing you and your families the very best for 2026.

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This post is part of a series of notes I am writing on my PhD thesis, sharing how I approached it and what I learned. You can see the entire series on my website.