ROYAL DUTCH SHELL RETAINS #1 RANK ON FORBES WORLD SUPER 50;
U.S. HAS 25 FIRMS ON WORLD SUPER 50, JAPAN IS SECOND WITH 8;
JAPAN IS HOME FOR 195 OF THE FORBES FOREIGN 500 COMPANIES
Royal Dutch Shell Group, an oil company based in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, ranks number one on the Forbes World Super 50 for the third straight year, Forbes magazine reports in its annual ranking of the 50 most powerful public firms in the world, in the July 28 issue.
Twenty-five of the firms on the World Super 50 are American, including six in the Top 10: General Electric (2nd), Exxon (3), IBM (4), Ford Motor (6), General Motors (7) and Wal Mart Stores (9). Japan placed 8 firms on the World Super 50, including such giants as Toyota Motor (5), Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (17) and Honda Motor (44). Other well-known foreign firms on the Forbes list are: British Petroleum (8), Nestle (22), Barclays (31) and Daimler-Benz Group (33).
To compile the World Super 50, Forbes started with a universe of 1,000 public companies – the Forbes Sales 500 (the 500 biggest U.S. firms ranked by sales) and the Forbes Foreign 500 (the 500 biggest foreign firms ranked by sales) then ranked the 500 biggest worldwide, based on revenues. The World Super 50 shows the largest companies in the world based on a composite score of the best three” of four ranks for sales, profits, assets and market value.
Forbes has also ranked the 500 largest foreign public firms the Forbes Foreign 500-according to total sales in the most recent fiscal year. These 500 firms earned US8208 billion on US87.9 trillion in revenues. By comparison, the Forbes Sales 500 earned US$295 billion on US$4.8 trillion in revenues (Forbes, 4’21’97). Thus, the 500 American firms earned US$87 billion more than did the 500 foreign firms, on just over 60% of the total sales volume.
Japan is headquarters for 195 of the Forbes Foreign 500. The UK ranks second, with 67 companies, followed by France (46), Germany (40), Netherlands (19), Switzerland (16), Canada (16), South Korea (15), Italy (15), Australia (13) and Sweden (13).
Since the Forbes selection process uses only the three best scores, a company can still qualify if it has a relatively low asset base, or if its profits shrink in a cyclical downturn, or downsizing.
For more information, access the Forbes Digital Tool online at: www.forbes.com
In The World’s Shrewdest Businessman, Andrew Tanzer reports on Robert Kuok, a 73- year-old hotel owner, commodities trader, investor and cosmopolite who also happens to be Coca-Cola’s bottler in China. Kuok has been de scribed by colleagues as ‘the perfect businessman,’ while John Farrell, president of Coca-Cola China happily states, “What could take us 18- 24 months [in China], they [Kuok’s company Kerry Group] could do in 2 months.”
Aside from the Coca-Cola contract, Kuok’s most public business venture is his chain of luxury hotels, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts. Currently, the company operates 36 properties within Asia and has planned expansion to 50 within five years, much of it in China. With 17,000 rooms, the Shangri-La chain is now Asia’s largest luxury hotel group. Its estimated worth is 84 billion.
Other findings of Forbes” international issue:
- Rich countries are getting richer, but poor ones are getting richer faster. The seven largest economies the G7: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US expanded by only 2.2% on average. In the same year, China’s economy grew 9.7%. In Africa, Ethiopia and Morocco posted double-digit gains and South Africa posted its fourth consecutive year of expansion. Brazil and Mexico are now growing at an estimated 4.5% and Argentina at 5%.
- Other well-known firms ranked on the Forbes Foreign 500 are: Mitsubishi (2), Toyota Motor (7), Daimler Benz (11), British Petroleum (12), Volkswagen Group (14), Siemens Group (16), Nissan Motor (17), Unilever(19), Fiat Group (20), Sony (21), Nestle (22), Toshiba (23), Honda Motor (24), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (26), NEC (30), Renault Group (39), BMW (41). Peugeot Group(46). Mitsubishi Motors (48), Bayer Group (51), Canon (81). Volvo Group (83), Lloyds TSB Group (97), Barclays (104), Mazda Motor (123), Electrolux Group (129), Sharp (136), Michelin Group (161), Japan Air Lines (162), Deutsche Lufthansa (166), Suzuki Motor (174), British Airways (178), Marks & Spencer (191), Ricoh (205), Fuji Photo Film (222), Seagram Co. (217), News Corp. (250), Kirin Brewery (299), Thomson Corp. (309), Yamaha Motor (316), Telefonos de Mexico (348), SwissAir Group (362), Pirelli Group (363), Cadbury Schweppes (369), Rolls Royce (382), Heineken (385), KLM (401), Quantas Airways (405), Guinness (429), Olivetti Group (441), Alitalia Group (454), and Singapore Airlines (462).
- The July 15 international issue also contains: The 25 Largest Public Foreign Companies, The 100 Largest U.S. Multinationals, the 100 Largest Foreign Investments in the U.S, 100 U.S.-Traded Foreign Stocks, and 100 International Bargains.
