The "World Top 500 Ranking" in Fortune and the "Global Wealth Ranking" in Forbes are the most influential rankings in global business circles. The former lists 500 of the most powerful enterprises reflecting the general picture of global economic developments. Forbes on the other hand shows each country’s wealth creation capacity, indirectly illustrating the strength of certain business environments. These indicators are closely related to each other in the integrated world in which we now live. If an economically developed nation has a large number of great businesses, equipped with both global vision and strong capabilities, that country will be able to create large scale wealth.
It is indisputable that China's economy has grown rapidly during the past 30 years. One of the results is that more and more Chinese enterprises have now made their appearances in these two global rankings. 29 great enterprises including China Mobile and Sinopec have been ranked in the "Fortune Top 500", in addition with 42 listings in Forbes. The world is indeed taking note of China's potential for creating wealth. However, most of these companies are state-owned monopolies, relying in the mainland market on political favors and access restrictions imposed by the authorities. Even the private entrepreneur is often unable to dialog with world competitors. As a result, it is very difficult to change the embarrassing condition in the Chinese economy of being large rather than being strong.
Making a sharp contrast, the Indian top enterprises ranked in Fortune and Forbes have gained their power by dominating mainstream markets both in and outside the country. These include the steel king Lakshmi Mittal, the largest diversified group Mukesh Ambani, the software outsourcing group Wipro Technologies and many others. In a word, India economic growth has been accompanied step-by-step by the rise of Indian global business empires.
To sum up, it is amazing that Chinese enterprises have, on the one hand, accumulated great power through wealth creation during the past 30 years. On the other hand, China has been far behind developed nations and even some emerging countries like India in creating great commercial institutions. Contemporary China needs great business empires like Coca-Cola and Microsoft in the USA, Toyota in Japan and Samsung in South Korea, to integrate global resources, and strengthen the overall Chinese economy. This will not fail to result in the growth of the middle classes, something which is at the very heart of the construction of a harmonious society.
Full Chinese version was published in Cheng Kong Magazine 19th Volume and《经济观察报》(July 28, 2008) To Read more in Chinese, visit this link: http://www.ckgsb.edu.cn/article/400/4473.aspx