Oligopolistic competition and concentration in the smart card industry

Based on some stylised fact, and using a proprietary database of more than 750 agreements spanning from collaborations to merger and acquisition agreements between 1997 and 2003, we try in this paper to characterise and understand the movement of industry concentration. We ask whether the smart card industry will know a monitoring oligopolistic concentration on the fundamental assets and markets, despite increased levels of competition? Or will know radical technological progress, dealing with demand evolution, lead to a change in the current market structure and thus towards a ‘multipolarisation’ of global competition? We find that the smart card industry is struck by a strongly concentrated oligopoly despite fierce competition.