Great companies - what do they convey about their countries?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

―Charles Dickens,A Tale of Two Cities

While Dickens wrote this almost a couple of hundred hundred years ago, these words hold true for every period of time in human industry including today.

While there are wars raging in some parts of the world, amazing innovations, business as well as wealth creation is happening in many other parts of the world.

Here is a brief analysis of some of the best businesses in the world from the great countries.

These businesses also convey a lot about priorities of the nations.

Thanks to Hakeem Yesufu for sharing some of these brilliant insights.

Top 5 companies in US (by market capitalization)

1. Apple (Tech - no need for explanation)
2. Microsoft (Tech - no need for explanation )
3. Google (Alphabet) (Tech - no need for explanation)
4. Amazon (Tech and e-Commerce)
5. Nvidia (Tech - AI Compute)

US clearly dominates the world. Amazing work on technology, innovation, brand building and e-commerce.

Growth rates of these companies and value creation is just astounding. Each company with more than a trillion USD valuation.

No doubt US has done so well on wealth creation compared to every other part of the world.

Only US as a country has 8 trillion USD companies while rest of the world has none (except Saudi Aramco with a much less float and liquidity).

Of course they do have an unfair advantage with USD being reserve currency of the world and access to the capital and talent.

Top 5 companies in Europe

1. Novo Nordisk (healthcare)
2. LVMH (Fashion)
3. ASML (Semiconductor Manufacturing)
4. Loreal (Cosmetics)
5. Hermes (Luxury design)

Observations - Excellent work on design (fashion and luxury), innovation and healthcare and cosmetics.

At the same time, while Europe leads the world in many aspects of life, in the last few decades (almost a century), US has far outstripped Europe in terms on innovation, wealth creation and tech supiriority.

Life is great in Europe. But the innovation outcome, tech transformation and wealth creation numbers and opportunities are much better in the US.

Top 5 companies in India

1. Reliance (Energy giant transforming into digital platforms)
2. TCS (Information Tech (IT) solution provider to the world)
3. HDFC Bank (Banking and Financial Services)
4. ICICI Bank (Banking and Financial Services)
5. Hindustan Unilever (FMCG)

Observations - Mostly regular banking, retail, FMCG, energy kind of old world businesses dominate here. Old world companies (e.g Reliance) working hard to reinvent themselves in the digital first world and have been succeeding at it.

Huge talent and skills arbitrage have also given rise to IT behemoths like TCS, Infosys who primarily serve the rest of the world.

Value creation over the last 2 decades is commendable with high quality, growth businesses serving locally as well as globally.

Top 5 companies in China

1. Tencent Holdings Limited (technology and entertainment conglomerate)
2. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (conglomerate with focus e-commerce, retail, internet, and technology)
3. Meituan (Shopping platform - consumer and retail)
4. JD.com (large retailer - online and offline)
5. Ping An Insurance (Financial Services)

Tech has been leveraged to the fullest to create opportunities.

Conflict with the US has affected wealth creation and the ride has been quiet bumpy (e.g. Alibaba).

This book by Kai Fu Li - "AI Superpowers, China, Silicon Valley and the new world order" is an amazing read for everyone interested in the future.

Top 5 companies in Japan

1. Toyota (Automobile)
2. Sony (Electronics)
3. Keyence (Industrial automation tech)
4. Mitsubishi (Trading and Conglomerate (Keiretsu) - 10+ businesses)
5. NTT (Telecommunications)

Good balance of industrial tech, automobile, trading and telecom. Growth has been slower though due to various reasons.

USSR (Russia)

The conflict with the west has not been helpful. Commodity plays have been extremely lucrative but got affected due to Ukraine war.

War and conflict does not help anyone.

Business, trading and innovation does.

These business behemoths do convey something very interesting around how the people, businesses and governments in those countries think, prioratize and operate.

The primary motivations and drivers in each of these societies (e.g US is so much more about tech, innovation, growth and value creation; Europe is about design, luxury, fashion, tech and quality of life), Asia (China, India, Japan have their own priorities) do offer great opportunities.

It has been a great privilege for us to work with colleagues and companies in all the over the world, with folks from these amazing countries.

In the movie "The Namesake" (by Meera Nair) based on the novel (by Zhumpa Lahiri) with the same title, the protagonist gets in invaluable piece of advice while travelling in the train just before meeting with a terrible accident.

His fellow traveller tells him to "Go and see the world, you will never regret it". Cant agree more.