ABSTRACT
Most of today’s largest transnational companies are based in the USA, Western Europe or Japan, but some are based in developing countries, including for example India, Brazil and Mexico. Others may emerge in Russia from former large state enterprises. Table 4.7 shows that of the 50 top industrial companies in the world according to value of sales, 17 have their headquarters in Japan, 17 in Western Europe and 16 in the USA. The huge size of the large companies is illustrated in Table 4.8 by a comparison of the turnover or sales of selected large companies in the USA and Western Europe with countries whose total GDP is roughly similar.
