The demographics of global corporate champions

Abstract

This Working Paper presents a novel dataset documenting the demographics of the worldâ??s 500 largest companies by market capitalisation.The data illustrate a stark contrast between the main global economic regions. In Europe and Japan, large companies tend to be fairly old. In the United States, older champions coexist with a significant number of new ones. In emerging economies, most champions were born in the second half of the 20th century and reflect a rapid catch-up growth process.