I hope this doesn’t seem like badgering, I don’t mean to do that.
May I suggest you may also be confusing the capabilities which may exist within a single company, versus the total output of the entire industry.
I see your point, and that is also part of the evolution- companies get put out of business even in a healthy competitive environment
you commit to one manner of production, and invest a lot of time and moeny, and another process comes along that is better and cheaper- well you can either fold or (if you are a democrat) ask for a government bailout
Sometimes the government is the SOURCE of this competition.
In NY the state offerred a company a tax break on his hius land and business to build a factory. Then the politicians announce how wonderful they were to ‘create’ 300 new jobs in the area this way. Well an existing company in the same area withouth these government tax breaks could no longer competer becuase the other company had only 85% of his costs... so he went out of business and 500 jobs were lost.
Net result: net loss of 150 jobs, but a new company donor for the politicians who organized this scheme
It is easy for a politician to raise money like this- fins a local business that makes a sucessful product, offer a competitor tax breask to come into town, drive the first company out of business and then collect campaign donations.