Struggle and Survival on Wall Street provides a comprehensive economic analysis of competition between broker-dealers or securities firms. It uses the industrial organization approach which focuses on the interaction of the industry's structure, conduct, and performance to argue that the driving force of competition is through the development of new financial products. The development of new products forces firms to integrate these new services into their existing organization. Matthews argues that the firms which successfully integrate and adapt to an expanded product line grow in size and importance relative to those which do not. He also suggests that the Securities and Exchange Commission needs to adapt to the growing services offered by securities firms by providing a framework in which organizational change can take place.
This study of the changing nature of the US securities industry uses an industrial organization approach. It has been designed for students of American securities law and regulations, or financial and securities markets in general.
