alt Hacker News> Vertical integration is, in general, bad for competition and often bad for consumers.
This is a gross misunderstanding of what vertical integration is.
YKK zippers makes an unbeatable product because of vertical integration.
A lack of vertical integration means that you're subject to the whims of larger markets (and increased interest and costs at every step).
The flip side to this is "control nothing". Buy the building your office is in and own an asset, or get a triple net lease and then pay margin on top of that. Own your own hardware or pay AWS to have 30percent profit margins...
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pessimizer • yesterday at 6:10 PM
> YKK zippers makes an unbeatable product because of vertical integration.
YKK zippers make an unbeatable product because they are a monopoly.
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(Potentially) making a better product does not mean better for a consumer, especially when a company has a dominant share of the marketplace.
It potentially means you can only get parts going through the company that sells the complete product.
It potentially means that you have to pay whatever price the company sets because they control the distribution pipeline.