148
5
10
15
20
0
5
0
S
upplemental Reading
S
ince 1999, the US magazine
Forbes
has published
a special list of the
“best” companies around the world: the A-list of Best Big Companies.
One of the first requirements is that a company must have over US $5
billlion in sales per year. Next,
Forbes
looks at the company’s history over the past
five years. Only companies with stable growth of sales and solid stock prices
remain on the list.
In looking at the list
of companies selected by
Forbes
, it appears businesses
worldwide are not really equally represented. For example,
a person might
assume that the number of companies from a country should be related in some
way to that country’s economic power. But companies from the United States
and Europe
seem overly represented on
Forbes
’ A-list. Companies from the
United States and Europe represent 85 percent of the companies on the list!
Why are Asian companies underrepresented on this list?
Actually, there are several reasons business analysts have suggested to
account for this underrepresentation. Most of these
reasons are related to the
“bad” business practices of many Asian companies. For example, companies that
hire relatives or friends as managers typically do not have stable growth. They
usually fail. Both the legal and
political systems in some
countries allow businesses to operate in ways considered
unethical. Such practices make these
companies poor
choices for investors and
thus remove these companies from
Forbes
’
A-list.
Where Are the Asian Companies?
Discussion
Discuss the following questions.
1.
Do you agree with how
Fortune
and
Business Week
rank companies?
Why or why not?
2.
What do you think is the most important thing
to consider in order to
have a successful company?
Track 48
