|
Not only size matters
¡¡¡¡
China\'s top 500 companies have become impressively large. Altogether these enterprises generated 14.1 trillion yuan (1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in revenues, accounting for 77.6 percent of the country\'s gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
Upon its release last weekend, the latest list of top Chinese companies immediately invited comparison with the Fortune Global 500. The latter is the ultimate list that most, if not all, domestic corporate giants have been fixated on.
Chinese enterprises have generally responded to the looming impact of globalization by growing bigger and stronger, a strategy readily endorsed by the government.
The new ranking of top domestic business giants illustrated how much bigger China Inc has grown.
In 1995, only three Chinese companies were listed among the global top 500. Now, 23 of the top 500 domestic enterprises have qualified for the Fortune Global 500 in terms of revenues, with 19 of them actually ranked among the magazine\'s list for 2006.
The global rank of Sinopec, the Chinese oil giant that leads the list of top domestic companies, even rose from 31st last year to 23rd this year.
However, competitiveness is not all about the size of a company.
Admittedly, there is still a considerable gap between the size of Chinese business giants and those global leaders.
The combined business income of China\'s top 500 was equal to only 9.3 percent of the Fortune Global 500, and 19.4 percent of the top 500 US firms.
An even wider gap exists between the brands of large Chinese companies and those held by foreign firms.
While no Chinese brand ranked among the list of 100 best global brands, US firms account for many of the most valuable brands in the global market. For instance, leader Coca-Cola\'s brand value alone was estimated to be 67 billion U.S. dollars, about one-tenth of India\'s GDP. And Microsoft and IBM follow in the second and third spots, respectively.
How to build global competitiveness in Chinese brands should certainly be an urgent task for domestic corporate giants.
Like it or not, as the Chinese economy grows rapidly and opens wider, domestic business giants will only be further challenged by overseas competitors. Even those big State firms that currently enjoy much of their monopoly status will be no exception.
To survive increasingly fierce competition, domestic enterprises must adapt themselves to the new business environment as soon as possible. And given their size and influence, the success of large domestic enterprises will definitely be crucial to the sustainable development of the Chinese economy.
The new list of the top 500 helps us understand the strength of Chinese enterprises. Rapid expansion will allow them to benefit more from economies of scale. But extensive growth in size will not guarantee competitiveness if it is not followed by efforts to promote branding, research and development and other key aspects on which an enterprise\'s profitability hinges.
Ïà¹ØÁ´½Ó
Top 500 enterprises account for 78% of China's GDP
CEC¡¯s Work in the Field of CSR
CEC Joins Labor Laws Revising Work Through Harmonize Tri-parties Labor Relation
Vice Director General Chen Ying Joined the UN Global Compact Board
CEC Plans to Run "Colledge-CEC Education Cooperation" Project
The Tenth Anniversary of China Business Record Commendation Conference Held
|
|
|
| ¡¡Qualification Attesting |
|
|
