Why not a third possibility? Big business has a vested interest in blocking innovation, new entrants and small businesses. Hidden in the Obamacare bill is a provision that bans doctor’s from opening new hospitals. Why is that in there?
Socialist central planners who want to destroy America or the American Hospital Association who wants to destroy competition?
I can't agree with that assessment, and here is why. Big business spawns small business development, because, at least in my industry (Oil and Gas) it is smaller businesses which form the logistical support of Big Business.
In the course of drilling a well, the Operator hires the drilling rig, earthworks contractors, surveyors, roustabouts, rig moving specialists, drilling fluids companies, consultants, directional survey companies, and buys products ranging from shipping, salt and fresh water, material for surfacing the drill site, a host of rental equipment, casing crews, etc, ad infinitum. Some of these businesses on the vendor list are large, multinational conglomerates, some are as small as one-man LLCs. They are all jockeying for a competitive edge in their niche, and it is those edges, primarily ones which save the operator money, which are the source of innovation in the industry, as well as reducing their costs while maintaining quality or improving the quality of their services in a cost neutral fashion.
Sure, no one is going into a direct face-off with Exxon/Mobil or BP, but there is a question of capital outlay involved as well.
It is not uncommon for the really big companies to buy up innovative smaller companies as well, and often the small oil companies (you seldom hear about "Small Oil") are the ones which take risks which lead to discovering big plays. While they aren't out drilling deepwater GOM wells or the North Sea, especially of late, the power of drilling something different becomes manifest when one considers the Elm Coulee Field (the first major Bakken Field, in MT) was estensively (about half of the wells) drilled by one company few had heard of, and the others at the onset were not "big" oil companies, either.
The Big Boys only got interested when the reserve estimates were revised, and bought out some of the smaller companies at a handsome profit for their developers.
From the risks taken by a few smaller companies came one of the biggest booms in the Oil Patch.