Position of Chinese firms on Fortune list inspires confidence

The development of Chinese enterprises can be observed from an international and domestic perspective in two recently published rankings.

Since it was first published in 2002, the entry threshold for the list of the top 500 Chinese enterprises has been continuously rising, from 2.03 billion yuan ($314 million) at the beginning to more than 39 billion yuan now.

Some 222 enterprises on the latest list have an annual turnover of more than 100 billion yuan, reflecting the growth rate of Chinese enterprises.

Meanwhile, the rise of Chinese enterprises in the global economy can be seen in the latest Fortune top 500 list.

When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, there were only about 10 Chinese enterprises on the Fortune list, but the number reached 143 in the latest list. Since it was first published, in 1995, no other country’s enterprises have made it to the list as rapidly as those from China.

From the two lists we can see not only the “speed” at which Chinese enterprises are growing, but, more importantly, their “resilience” in the face of multiple challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic-induced global economic recession, the global economic crisis, and escalated containment and crackdown by Western countries.

The total revenue and net profit of China’s top 500 enterprises still registered positive growth in 2021 compared with the year before.

The two lists are proof of the substantial improvements in Chinese enterprises’ innovation capability. Since 2005, China’s top 500 enterprises have increased their spending on research and development, raising it to more than 1.3 trillion yuan in 2021.

More and more Chinese internet-related companies have made it to the Fortune list since 2016, reflecting the tremendous energy of Chinese enterprises in this field.

The profit gap between nonbanking enterprises and commercial banks on China’s top 500 enterprises’ list in 2021 continues to narrow. The numbers of hightech and modern services enterprises are rising while the numbers of real estate, coal mining and some other sectors are falling.

The reason behind these changes is a series of reforms implemented by the country to promote economic restructuring. These changes can be attributed to the efforts made by the enterprises themselves, but also the combined effects of China’s institutional and market advantages.

The two lists are enough reason to have confidence in the Chinese economy.