The Multinational Monitor

DECEMBER 1996 · VOLUME 17 · NUMBER 12


E C O N O M I C S


Corporate Empires

by Sarah Anderson
and John Cavanagh


TWO HUNDRED GIANT CORPORATIONS, most of them larger than many national economies, have sales that exceed a quarter of the world's economic activity. Philip Morris is larger than New Zealand, and it operates in 170 countries. Instead of creating an integrated global village, these firms are weaving webs of production, consumption and finance that bring economic benefits to, at most, a third of the world's people. Two-thirds of the world (the bottom 20 percent of the rich countries and the bottom 80 percent of the poor countries) are either left out, marginalized or hurt by these webs of activity. Here are five snapshots of the extent of global corporate concentration:


1. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries. Wal-Mart--the number 12 corporation--is bigger than 161 countries, including Israel, Poland and Greece. Mitsubishi is larger than the fourth most populous nation on earth: Indonesia. General Motors is bigger than Denmark. Ford is bigger than South Africa. Toyota is bigger than Norway.


2.The combined sales of the world's Top 200 corporations are far greater than a quarter of the world's economic activity. The Top 200's share of global economic activity has been growing rapidly over the past decade. In 1982, the Top 200 firms had sales that were the equivalent of 24.2 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP). Today, that figure has grown to 28.3 percent of world GDP.


3.The Top 200 corporations' combined sales are bigger than the combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 9; that is they surpass the combined economies of 182 countries. At latest count, the world has 191 countries. If you subtract the GDP of the big nine economies -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada and China -- the combined GDP's of the other 182 countries is $6.9 trillion. The combined sales of the Top 200 corporations is $7.1 trillion.


4.The Top 200 have almost twice the economic clout of the poorest four-fifths of humanity. The world's economic income and wealth remain highly concentrated among the rich. Indeed, according to the United Nations, some 85 percent of the world's GDP is controlled by the richest fifth of humanity; only 15 percent is controlled by the poorest four-fifths. Hence, the poorer 4.5 billion people in the world account for only $3.9 trillion dollars of economic activity; this is only a little over half the combined revenues of the Top 200's $7.1 trillion.


5. The Top 200 have been net job destroyers in recent years. Their combined global employment is only 18.8 million, which is less than a third of 1 percent of the world's people. The world has just over 5.6 billion people. Of these, around 2.6 billion are in the workforce. Hence, the Top 200 employ less than three-fourths of 1 percent of the world's workers. Of the world's top five employers, four are U.S. (General Motors, Wal-Mart, PepsiCo, and Ford), and one is German (Siemens). If one also includes the public sector in these calculations, the U.S. Postal Service is the world's biggest employer, at 870,160, roughly 160,000 more workers than GM's 709,000 workers.


World's Top 100 Economies, 1995

1.United States$6,648,013
2.Japan$4,590,971
3.Germany$2,045,991
4.France$1,330,381
5.Italy$1,024,634
6.United Kingdom$1,017,306
7.Brazil$554,587
8.Canada$542,954
9.China$522,172
10.Spain$482,841
11.Mexico$377,115
12.Russian Federation$376,555
13.Korea, Rep.$376,505
14.Australia$331,990
15.Netherlands$329,768
16.India$293,606
17.Argentina$281,922
18.Switzerland$260,352
19.Belgium$227,550
20.Austria$196,546
21.Sweden$196,441
22.Mitsubishi$184,510
23.Mitsuiand Co.$181,661
24.Indonesia$174,640
25.Itochu$169,300
26.General Motors$168,829
27.Sumitomo$167,662
28.Marubeni$161,184
29.Denmark$146,076
30.Thailand$143,209
31.Ford Motor$137,137
32.Hong Kong$131,881
33.Turkey$131,014
34.South Africa$121,888
35.Saudi Arabia$117,236
36.Toyota Motor$111,139
37.Royal Dutch/Shell$109,853
37.Norway$109,568
39.Exxon$107,893
40.Nissho Iwai$97,963
41.Finland$97,961
42.Wal-Mart$93,627
43.Poland$92,580
44.Ukraine$91,307
45.Portugal$87,257
46.Hitachi$84,233
47.Nippon Tel and Tel$82,002
48.AT&T$79,609
49.Israel$77,777
50.Greece$77,721
51.Daimler-Benz$72,253
52.IBM$71,940
53.Malaysia$70,626
54.Matsushita Electric$70,454
55.General Electric$70,028
56.Singapore$68,949
57.Tomen$67,809
58.Colombia$67,266
59.Mobil$64,767
60.Philippines$64,162
61.Iran$63,716
62.Nissan Motor$62,618
63.Volkswagen Group$61,487
64.Siemens Group$60,673
65.Venezuela$58,257
66.British Petroleum$56,992
67.Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi$55,243
68.Chrysler$53,195
69.Philip Morris$53,139
70.Toshiba$53,089
71.Ireland$52,060
72.Pakistan$52,011
73.Chile$51,957
74.Nichimen$50,882
75.New Zealand$50,777
76.Tokyo Electric Power$50,343
77.Peru$50,077
78.Kanematsu$49,878
79.Unilever$49,638
80.Nestlé$47,767
81.Sony$47,619
82.Fiat Group$46,467
83.VEBA Group$46,278
84.NEC$45,593
85.Honda Motor$44,090
86.UAP-Union es Assurances$43,929
87.Allianz Worldwide$43,486
88.Egypt$42,923
89.Algeria$41,941
90.Elf Aquitane Group$41,729
91.Hungary$41,374
92.Philips Group$40,146
93.Fujitsu$39,007
94.Indust. Bank of Japan$38,694
95.Deutsche Bank Group$38,418
96.Renault Group$36,876
97.Mitsubishi Motors$36,674
98.du Pont de Nemours$36,508
99.Mitsubishi Electric$36,408
100.Hoechst Group$36,407

SOURCE: CALCULATED FROM DATA IN FORBES MAGAZINE AND WORLD BANK, WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1996. NOTE: COMPANY SALES FIGURES ARE FOR 1995; COUNTRY GDP FIGURES ARE FOR 1994. FIGURES ARE IN MILLION DOLLARS.

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