Vital Statistics
An assessment of how the world's biggest companies have fared over the last decade - and how international they have become.
A closer look at the figures
INFLATION
Some allowance for inflation has to be made when looking at the growth of the worlds top companies from 1968 to 1978. Prices and wages over that period in the industrialised countries have increased by approximately 150 per cent, that is $100 in 1968 would be $250 by 1978. The average increase in sales over that period has been an interesting 426 per cent, with a corresponding effect on profits.
HIGH FLIERS
Three groups of companies have done particularly well - the first is the oil companies. The size of their profits has been so embarrassingly high, that it has provoked widespread hostility from the consumer lobby in the US. The other high fliers are the German and Japanese companies. The growth in their sales, measured in US dollars, has been artificially boosted by the devaluation of the dollar against the deutschmark and yen. However, the US economy and US-based companies have been partially protected from the severe oil price hikes - as 55 per cent of petroleum is found within the country. Germany and Japan have had to import 100 per cent of their oil needs, and yet the oil price rises made remarkably little dent in their company fortunes. EXPANSION OF FOREIGN INTERESTS Although there is a lack of complete figures on the overseas interests of the top companies, there has probably been an expansion of foreign earnings as a total proportion of most corporations income over the decade. Most of the foreign-earnt money would have come from other Western industrial countries - not the Third World.
JOBS
The number of jobs provided by each of the companies varies wildly. But oil companies are a particularly bad bet in providing employment. Over the decade, whatever happened to sales and profits, numbers employed have remained about the same.
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
