aOver half of the world’s 100 top GDPs1 are held by corporations. This means 51 companies have higher revenues than the GDPs of 142 nations of the 193 nations the UN recognizes!2 While not a perfect comparison
aOver half of the world’s 100 top GDPs1 are held by corporations. This means 51 companies have higher revenues than the GDPs of 142 nations of the 193 nations the UN recognizes!2 While not a perfect comparison, a recent Business Insider article compared leading companies’ corporate revenue to the GDP of individual nations, for example:
- If Wal-Mart were a country, its revenues at $421.89 billion would rank higher than the GDP of Norway ($414.46 billion) and
- General Electric with annual revenues at $151.63 billion would rank higher than the GDP of New Zealand ($140.43 billion) 3
Researchers at the New Scientist believe that the biggest 737 companies control 80% of the global economy.4 250 years ago, when Adam Smith penned “The Wealth of Nations,” the world’s wealth was held by nations. Arguably, in recent years, corporations have passed up many of the nations of the world. In the days of Smith, culture, the ways of life of people groups, was by and large nationalistic. Monarchies had historically sponsored world exploration, art, sports, religious expansion, and colonization. Today, we see corporations and corporate leaders sponsoring world exploration, art, sports and globalization. If corporations hold the wealth of the global economy, are