TABLE 4.9 The top fifteen industrial companies in North America and Western Europe, 1992

Some economic activities are mainly concentrated in large companies, while others continue to be successful in small enterprises. Although food processing and retailing is increasingly becoming part of the first group, agriculture itself is largely run on the basis of individual farms. Small companies get less publicity than large ones, but developments

in North Italy in the post-war decades have shown that small enterprises can be successful in textiles, clothing and footwear. In contrast, Table 4.9 shows that fuel, transport and communications predominate among the largest industrial companies in North America and Western Europe.