Big companies

A world turned upside down

Giant state-owned firms have fallen back out of fashion. Good

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Readers' comments



Knodisigan in reply to Ohio

Bon Jovi's latest album "What About Now," released in 2013 has charted at the #1 spot in Australia, Canada, Spain and the United States. That would count as churning out a #1 album, despite Jon's age.

Ohio in reply to 65irQx7Sxo

Well, I didn't have anything much to add to or disagree with the article, but the Bon Jovi thing just shocked me. There is no rule that we have to comment about economics.

Ohio in reply to Knodisigan

This must just be a flaw in the statistics. Only people over 40 still buy CDs. What self-respecting 20-year-old would buy an album by a bunch of 50-year-olds? Don't get me wrong. I like some of Bon Jovi's songs. But I'm almost 50.


Bon Jovi is still churning out #1 albums? I know I'm out of touch with pop music, but they're my age. Really?

alex akoury

This article starts off by creating an image in our heads of the top 10 firms and their country of origin. The author introduces the uprising and downfall of previous and present firms, giving reasons and explanations. Today, 9 out of the 10 top firms in the world are American because of their mix of resilience and renewal (well rooted firms and arrival of new firms). Another reason being uprising of private firm investments rather than the "suicidal" and stingy state-owned firm investments. He then goes on to explain how Government firms are now hated and beneath private owned firms. Personally, i tend to agree with most of what the author talks about. Investing in State-owned firms is risky in my opinion, because we never really know where our money is going. Governments can use our money to invest in other sectors and can be affected by economical crises very easily. Private firms are more reliable and tend to be more efficient with their loans. State-owned firms are more prone to corruption seeing as governments have no authority to answer to other than themselves. They can loan our investments in other sectors without the investors knowledge and approval. A good intermediate between a private firm and a state-owned firm should be met. Something like a certain share of a private firm should be owned by the government, yet all financials and everything about the firm is run by a private company.


The article says how the American investors develop bias feelings for various companies and dump and withdraw funds. State-owned firms are losing value and prove an unsafe investments. Then it concludes by saying how private firms are infinitely better than gov't owned. I think that the article is contradictory about how American firms survive, saying how the older first are more resilient and tend to stay afloat, then goes on about how Intel and IBM are crashing. I also think that the other is trying to belittle state-owned company by saying that they are corrupt, but there is a lot of private firm who are corrupt too. The best example I can found is in Quebec where private construction company where very corrupt. They were giving money to politician to obtain contract from the government.


The impact of the spy scandals are still not clearly seen. Global customers could deter from buying U.S goods and consider Japanese or Korean goods.

Secondly how is the U.S going to handle intellectual property law violations by the Chinese now?

Knodisigan in reply to Ohio

Go back 30 years, were you not listening to or contemplating picking up the vinyl of the likes of Ginger Baker - "Horses and Trees" or "From Humble Oranges"? I listened to "Sunrise on the Sufferbus" when that came out. He must have been over 50 by then. I, too, am almost 50. (Rush continues to bring in new fans and they are into their 60's.)

Point being, if you were young and influenced by "Have a Nice Day" when you were in your early teens, you might continue to follow Jon. Plus, I believe that BillBoard Top 200 tracks more than CD sales. And we are talking about more than just the US.

So, like a good corporation, Jon continues to make good music that continues to find new audiences. (Tying our little conversation back to the article.) One can be 20 and worldly enough to still like Jon, regardless of how you purchase your music.

Ohio in reply to 65irQx7Sxo


65irQx7Sxo in reply to Ohio

I find it amusing that only two comments to date were about the opener related to Bon Jovi and not the issue itself of state sponsored behemoths and their travails. But it's early yet, so hopefully someone will either agree or lambaste you for not lauding the likes of Gazprom (conflict of interest disclosure - I once did a project for them in Canada)



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