by Justin Sperandeo, account executive
Ever feel overwhelmed by the raw size and complexity of our
perceived world? Think about it, our planet, the people who inhabit
it, the cultures, languages spoken, values, belief's - all of which
varies so much. Even what we know about our history as a species,
and especially what we don't know is cause for anxiety. Let alone,
the unsettling thought of our future. It is easy to see how one can
just feel so small and insecure. Alas, but fear not all my
fellow would be earth goers. If you've heard the phrase "it's a
small world", I can tell you now it is so much smaller than you
think.
I recently game across an article that outlines how, a mere 147
companies basically rule the world in which we live.
http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/20/147-highly-interconnected-companies-that-rule-the-world/
From Orbis 2007, a database listing 37 million companies and
investors worldwide, they pulled out all 43,060 TNCs and the share
ownerships linking them. Then they constructed a model of which
companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled
with each company's operating revenues, to map the structure of
economic power.
The work, to be published in PloS One, revealed a core of 1318
companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the
1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they
were connected to 20. What's more, although they represented 20 per
cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to
collectively own through their shares the majority of the world's
large blue chip and manufacturing firms - the "real" economy -
representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.
When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found
much of it tracked back to a "super-entity" of 147 even more
tightly knit companies - all of their ownership was held by other
members of the super-entity - that controlled 40 per cent of the
total wealth in the network. "In effect, less than 1 per cent of
the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire
network," says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The
top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The
Goldman Sachs Group.
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