"Korea's Number of Fortune Global 500 Companies Decreased Last Year... Competitiveness Declines Compared to US, Japan, and China"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] An analysis has emerged suggesting that South Korea's global corporate competitiveness has declined compared to the United States, Japan, China, and others last year.

On the 1st, the Korea Economic Research Institute under the Federation of Korean Industries analyzed the number of global companies and sales of South Korea, the United States, Japan, and China based on the '2020 Fortune Global 500,' finding that the competitiveness of Korean companies has significantly declined. Fortune selects the top 500 global companies annually based on worldwide corporate sales.

(Data provided by Korea Economic Research Institute)

Comparing the number of companies from each country included in the top 500, China increased by 5 companies (119 → 124) compared to the 2019 survey, Japan increased by 1 (52 → 53), and the United States remained unchanged at 121 companies, while South Korea decreased by 2 companies from 16 to 14. In terms of total sales, the United States and China increased by 4.3% and 4.8% respectively compared to the previous year, Japan decreased by 0.2%, and South Korea decreased by as much as 12.0%.

Among the 14 Korean companies, 10 saw their rankings fall. Samsung Electronics dropped from 15th place in 2019 to 19th last year, and SK, POSCO, and LG Electronics fell by 24, 23, and 22 places respectively. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) dropped from 193rd to 227th during the same period, and SK Hynix and LG Chem, which were included in the top 500 companies in 2019, were excluded last year.

(Data provided by Korea Economic Research Institute)

In particular, the Korea Economic Research Institute explained that Samsung Electronics' ranking gap with its competitor Apple has widened to 7 places (Apple 12th, Samsung Electronics 19th) last year after Apple overtook Samsung in 2016. On the other hand, the gap between Samsung Electronics and Huawei (49th last year) narrowed from 46 places in 2019 to 30 places. POSCO, after losing the 2nd place among major competitors to China's Baowu in 2017, maintained 3rd place last year, but the gap with 4th place Japan's Nippon Steel is narrowing.

The Korean companies whose rankings improved compared to the previous year were four: ▲Hyundai Motor (94th → 84th) ▲Hyundai Mobis (393rd → 385th) ▲KB Financial Group (434th → 426th) ▲CJ (463rd → 437th).

Choo Kwang-ho, head of economic policy at the Korea Economic Research Institute, stated, "Since the global competitiveness of domestic large corporations is gradually shrinking, it is necessary to improve unreasonable regulations that do not meet global standards to support Korean companies to compete fairly in the global market."

Meanwhile, China's growth was prominent among the global top 500 companies. Until 2000, China had only 10 companies in the global top 500, but last year, with 124 companies, it surpassed the United States for the first time in history.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.