Market shares in the U.S. cola industry are as follows.

 

Company	Market Share (%)
Coca-Cola	40
PepsiCo	30
Dr. Pepper	15
Cott	5
Five smallest companies	2 each
Total	100

The cola industry is often described as a "duopoly". Explain how this description makes sense, even though there are more than two firms in the industry.

Even though the cola business has many competitors, two businesses are more recognized than the rest. They also own the majority of the shares in that business. When looked at from the perspective of someone who does not know much about the cola industry, and without prior knowledge of competitors in that space, one might be compelled to say that there are only two businesses in that space.

A duopoly is, in a way, considered to be an oligopoly. The argument behind this is that there are only two significant players in a given industry, and the market share held by the rest of the competitors combined does not equal that of any of the two main competitors.