They're major players on world markets. They increase their power through mergers - the joining of two or more companies together. Sometimes there's a lot of wheeling and dealing involved in the absorption of one company by another. We're talking about downsizing - this happens when the size of the company goes down. Downsizing is really a euphemism for dismissals or redundancy.
Companies often save money by reducing the number of workers.
In this way a company can become more efficient, often replacing workers with computer controlled systems. Companies and the economy grew very fast in some South East Asian countries, like Thailand and Malaysia. These newly developed countries use aggression and energy, like a tiger, to build their tiger economies. We've spoken about major players who dominate business. They increase their power through mergers and save money by downsizing.