<The problem is once they get big and powerful they tend to use their position rather than innovation to stay in the lead.

The correct way to put this is "TRY to stay in the lead."

"Position" means nothing in market competition if you aren't delivering the goods. Even the largest, oldest, and wealthiest companies are vulnerable to having some up-and-comer eat their lunch. I could give many examples of companies that rested on their laurels and regretted it. You could probably think of a few yourself.

What sometimes happens is that large, wealthy, stagnant companies (or professions) will try to use the government to restrict entry into their field, grant themselves special favors (tax or otherwise), or otherwise handicap possible competitors. Many regulations and tax codes are designed to do exactly this. And that isn't capitalism.

If you examine any case where a company appears to be largely monopolizing an industry, it is doing one of two things:

- Delivering a product so successfully that it has gained a huge chunk of the market

- Using government to keep competition at bay

It's important to examine each case closely to see which is which. Some companies have started out in the first category, and decayed to the second.