Yeah, naturally, companies don't want competition. If they *do* have competition, they'll do what they can to 'beat' it. That behavior brings out the best and worst in everything and everyone (the latter is unfortunate, but the prior hopefully makes it worth it).
You see things in a different way no doubt, but I don't have much trouble envisioning a successful MegaCompany in a fresh new market with such an iron hold on goods/services that they simply can't be competed against.
As an example, if MegaCompany has been peddling their stuff for awhile, they already get lots of business, get the best deals, have the most experience, have the most credibility and trust etc... There's a point where that gap becomes so wide that no start up could ever compete with that.
So, if it costs me twice as much to operate, what can I do?
Well, I can try to offer a better product/service. But, it'll be more expensive for me to do that than MegaCompany. Even if I do take a huge risk and spend everything I have to get this off of the ground, MegaCompany will undercut me by offering their own premium service for less. They can do it for less, so why wouldn't they?
I can try to innovate and replace MegaCompany's service/product by offering something that is not only superior, but perhaps a novel alternative. This might work if MegaCompany is resting on their laurels (as many monopolies would do, I'm sure). But any decent, intentional monopoly would still be looking into better ways to do things. As long as the threat of competition exists, this advancement ensures their future. Needless to say, innovation usually costs money though and MegaCompany has plenty of money, so they could already hire the 'best and brightest' who will be R&Ding in cutting edge facilities with plenty of resources. I might have some exceptional ideas, but there is a far greater chance *their* exceptional ideas will come first... and they have the capital to make sure they become reality first too.
I can offer the same or better service or product they do in a different area. Unfortunately, if MegaCompany is already well established, they can just plop down a new store or facility to undercut me if they choose to. I'm at their mercy in this respect.
What's left? Well, I could get lucky and discover something that replaces MegaCompany's product/service that is superior. I don't have as much funding or the best people working on new ideas, but I *might* be able to discover something that MegaCompany has missed with all of their resources.. I really don't like the odds though.
And perhaps, without competition, MegaCompany may be screwing up with enormously high prices or really bad service.. That might give me an 'in' as a startup. However, when I do start competing against MegaCompany, they have the advantage on practically everything. If they want to compete with me based on service or compete me with based on price, then they aren't going to have a problem doing that. Everything in capitalism revolves around money and whoever has the most money CAN offer the best service, the best price and the best products. Not every company does, but they CAN and any MegaCompany with competent leadership will ensure that they do so that no one else is able to compete in that market.
The *threat* of competition may help keep MegaCompany in check. They'll offer reasonable prices and decent products... just enough to undercut competition. But it'll never be as good as if we had real, viable choices. I also suppose a benevolent monopoly probably wouldn't be all that bad. You'd get the best prices and the best service etc... and they would spend their excess on innovation and all that jazz, but we all know that won't happen and what you get is incredibly rich people on top, poor people on the bottom and just enough reasonableness on their pricing, products and service to keep the little guys from competing.
It seems pretty hopeless, IMO. I And sure, know plenty of scenarios aren't like this, but some are... And just one is bad enough. Just imagine if you only had one store (Wal-Mart) or one phone company (AT&T). I *really* don't like the sound of that.