**Reference: Fortune official website.
Preface. "Fortune 500" is the greatest recognition of an enterprise.
In 1996, Finance magazine officially announced the first list of the "Fortune 500", and at that time there were 151 companies in the United States and 149 in Japan.
We only have a few poor 3 enterprises in China.
However, in recent years, with the continuous development of China's economy, the national strength has become stronger and stronger, and emerging industries have also risen, and the number of Chinese enterprises in the list of "Fortune 500" has also increased.
So how has China changed since when the "Fortune 500" ranking was first announced? Have the other two countries changed much?
United States and Japan.
To be on the list of "Fortune 500" magazine, the economic benefits of the enterprise are very considerable.
The ranking in the "Fortune 500" is sorted according to the revenue of a company, which has become an important reference value for a country's economic strength.
In the early "Fortune 500", the countries with the most listings were the United States and Japan, especially in the late 90s of the last century.
I also have to admit that in the 90s of the last century, it was relatively advanced in both the field of science and technology and economic development.
But after so many years, are they still the power that "dominated" the list at the beginning?
Judging from the 2023 list, the United States is still firmly in the first place, and in the top 10, American companies alone occupy six places.
It can be seen that the economic strength of the United States should not be underestimated, so what is the reason why the United States is so strong?
First of all, the United States is located in a very advantageous geographical location, with the Atlantic Ocean, which belongs to the second largest ocean, the vast Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico, which is rich in oil and gas resources to the south.
As a result, the United States, which is surrounded by the sea on three sides, not only has the most natural natural national protection barrier, but can also develop many excellent ports.
Moreover, the United States covers a very large area, coupled with unique climatic conditions, and has developed into the country with the largest arable land area in the world.
It can be seen from this that the United States has not only sea power but also land power, becoming the only complex country in the world with dual sea and land power.
Not only that, but the strategic location also gives the United States an enviable natural resource, of which the country has the largest iron ore reserves in the world so far.
Other mineral resources are no less impressive, with 3,596.6 billion tons of coal, 27 billion barrels of oil, and 5,603.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Not to mention forest resources and water resources, the green coverage rate of the whole country has reached 313%, and the United States also has the water system of the world's five largest freshwater lakes.
Of course, in addition to natural conditions and resources, the United States also attaches great importance to the cultivation and introduction of talents.
The U.S. education system is arguably the most advanced in the world, and the level of education is also recognized as the best in the world, so it has also attracted many students from all over the world to come to the United States.
In order to be able to attract talents, the United States has also adopted a variety of policies and guidelines, opening up the green card system, so that talents who are unwilling to give up their original nationality can also live in the United States for a long time.
At the same time, it is also relatively lenient on the issue of immigration.
However, the best talent is in school, and the United States does not hesitate to spend a lot of money to attract talents from all over the world to study in the United States, and promises to arrange the best employment and research environment for them.
To this end, the United States has implemented the "Fulbright Plan", and it has to be said that the implementation of this plan is very successful, and many students from all over the world come to study in the United States every year.
Among all the talents, the United States pays the most attention to the cultivation and introduction of STEM talents.
Most of these talents are relatively powerful in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and this is naturally a major reason why the United States is strong, and it pays attention to the development of science and technology.
In the past, the United States has been leading the world in scientific research.
The United States not only pays attention to talents in scientific research, but also is very willing to invest, for which the United States also has many high-tech companies, such as Apple, Google, etc., which we are familiar with.
There is also the existence of its hegemony on a global scale, whether it is in the military power of the United States, the currency in circulation and the United States, it has the absolute right to speak.
The financial crisis of 2008 illustrated its hegemonism very well.
That year, in order to alleviate the economic pressure, the United States directly printed a lot of dollars, you must know that this approach will not solve the root cause of the problem, and will also lead to the depreciation of prices and dollars.
But the United States did not care so much, but dumped the consequences of printing dollars on other countries.
This shows how strong the United States is.
Although the economic strength of the United States has remained stable, the number of companies in the "Fortune 500" list in 23 has declined compared with the number of companies in the first ranking version as other countries have strengthened.
Compared with the United States, Japan's economy has regressed.
In 1960, Japan's Prime Minister and Ikeda proposed the "Income Doubling Plan", and it was at this time that Japan has been paying great attention to economic development.
In order to achieve rapid economic growth, Japan has focused its economic development on heavy industry and then on other economies.
According to statistics, in 1970, Japan's heavy industry alone accounted for 62% of the country's manufacturing industry3%, and of the products exported, 2 3 are heavy industrial products.
In the early stage, Japan's economy can be said to have grown visibly, but they have ignored the most important problem, that is, the damage caused by pollution caused by the development of heavy industry.
By 1973, 180,000 people in Japan had suffered from Minamata disease.
Even under such circumstances, Japan's heavy industry economy has always stagnated, and Japan has fallen into a very embarrassing situation.
Later, after a long period of attempts, Japan finally found an industry suitable for the development of their country, that is, the development of high-tech industries.
The small household appliances and electrical appliances produced in their country have won the recognition of the people of many countries.
Among them, many of the small household appliances such as televisions and radios that we were familiar with when we were children were mostly made in Japan.
It was also during this period that some well-known home appliance companies in Japan officially rose, such as the well-known Panasonic and Toshiba.
It was also at this time that Japan's economy reached unprecedented heights.
Therefore, in the overall ranking of the Fortune Global 500 in 1995, Japan ranked second in the world.
However, Japan eventually flourished and declined, and since then, the development of Japan's technology industry has begun to stagnate.
In fact, it can be seen in our daily life, you must know that at the beginning of the 21st century, Panasonic, Toshiba and these brands of home appliances are the most common.
But nowadays, it's almost rare to see on the market.
At the same time, Japan is also facing many problems in terms of people's livelihood, among which the problem of aging is the most prominent.
It is reported that Japan's economic investment in the elderly over 80 years old is very large, because the number of these elderly people accounts for 10% of the total population.
They enjoy the benefits of Japan's **, but they do not contribute to the Japanese economy in any way.
There are many factors that contribute to Japan's economic stay.
Therefore, in the list of "Fortune 500" released in 23, the number of Japanese companies must have decreased compared with that announced in 1996.
However, China, which only had three companies on the list in 1996, has now surpassed Japan, so how did China do it?
China successfully counterattacked.
In the 23-year "Fortune 500" list, the number of Chinese mainland companies on the list is 135, and if you add the number of Taiwanese companies, it is 142.
That's even more than the 136 in the United States.
It can be seen that in just over 20 years, China has achieved rapid economic growth.
In 1995, China's economic level was indeed very backward, but with the continuous optimization of China's reform and opening up policy, China's economy has developed by leaps and bounds.
The policy of reform and opening up is a basic national policy put forward by the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee in December 1978.
The proposal of this policy has also laid the foundation for China's market economic system, that is, the socialist market economic system.
In 1992, at the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the economic development with the socialist market economic system as the goal was formally determined.
Since the beginning of the 21 st century, China's economic development has maintained a high-speed development, and China's economic development system has been gradually improving.
When the 11 th Five-Year Plan was completed, China had made relatively great achievements in economic development.
As recently as 2010, China's GDP ranked second in the world, which means that China's overall economic strength surpassed that of Japan.
Of course, in addition to the overall economic development, many private enterprises in China are also rising rapidly, and state-owned enterprises are not a problem.
It is said that "if you want to get rich, you must first build roads", and my country is no exception.
After 2008, China's transportation facilities have been continuously improved, and many "cement" roads that used to be full of yellow mud in front of many homes have become smooth and solid cement roads.
With the continuous improvement of transportation facilities, China's railway lines are also constantly expanding, thus forming a railway network throughout the country.
The development of transportation has played a vital role in China's economy.
At the same time, with the development of science and technology, China has also manufactured high-speed railways with faster speeds, which provides convenience for people's travel and the transportation of goods.
Nowadays, with the continuous development of China's economy, people not only travel conveniently, but also many families have achieved a well-off.
For this reason, in the 23-year "Fortune 500" list, the number of Chinese enterprises has also increased from 3 in 1995 to 143.
In just 28 years, the number of enterprises entering the "world's top 500" in China has increased by more than 40 times, which shows the rapid development of China's economy.
Epilogue. I have to say that in the list of "Fortune 500", it is very remarkable that it has changed from 3 companies in 1995 to 143 companies.
And the overall economic strength of our country is also improving, praise for our country!
However, from the perspective of the companies on the list, there is still a certain gap between the profits and industries of Chinese enterprises and the United States, so we still need to continue to work hard!
I believe that under the leadership of the state, China's economic level will be greatly improved!