RE:Akita advantages....I appreciated the care you put into your reply and gave you one of the likes on the post .
This is the first time I've had time to write a reply.
Being a third place company in any industry is hard ; it's a structural disadvantage with usually a financial component - more expensive access to lesser amounts of money as well some limited price setting ability ( big guys can undercut you) .
In a recent buyout , investors in a number 3 competitor did well with Heroux Devtek , the number 3 aircraft landing gear manufacturer.
I wonder if anybody on the board remembers a company called Trinidad Drilling which was a former #3 in Canada?