Business
- The latest edition of Forbes' Asia-Pacific list was released on 26 May 2022, and the top 10 companies in the region are all listed at positions 1, 2, 3 and 6, respectively. This is the first time that three Asian cities – Beijing, Mumbai and Singapore (6) – have been added to this year's ranking.
Singapore takes over from Tokyo for the fourth consecutive year; Dubai moves up one spot, with Hong Kong rising two places to 7, while Seoul rounds out the top 10. In 2021, these nine metropolises made up a quarter of our rankings
We start this year’s analysis by looking at each city’s respective industries and GDP figures, as well as the impact they have had across various sectors. All major countries in the industry rankings were also included, including China (7), Japan (8), India (9), Saudi Arabia (10) and Brazil (11). These countries are particularly interesting given their significant impacts on many economies around the world.
To view all of the data, click here.
The most important industries in the Asia Pacific region are: Information Technology (IT): 35% of GDP growth ($3.6 trillion in 2019); Petroleum & Energy (51%)
(51%) Mining (20%), Transportation (17%), Healthcare/Biotechnology (12%); Manufacturing (12%); Services (12%)
(12%); Shipping/Maritime (12%); Agriculture (10%)
(10%); Life Sciences (10%); Chemical & Materials (7%); Public Administration/Government (5%); Food & Beverages (5%); Retail Trade (4%)
(4%); Finance (3%), Others (1%)
(1%) Education & Health Care (3%).
The largest industries in Asia are the following: IT: 50% ($2.1 billion in 2019); Automotive $1.2 billion and Pharmaceutical $0 billion; Communication $0.5 billion and Other Communications (0.2%); Tourism & Hospitality $0.3 billion and Media (0%).
The next largest industries are Transport (0.6%), Food & Beverage (0.5%) and Government Operations (0.4%), while Oil & Gas accounted for 0.2%.
The biggest exports of Asia-Pacific firms are: Logistics $1.4 billion; Primary Aluminum Smelting $0.6 billion in 2014; Chemicals & Polymers $2.2 billion; Electrical Machinery $0.9 billion; Paper Products $0.8 billion; Medical Devices $0.7 billion; Nonmetallic Mineral Products $0.6 billion; Semiconductors $1.2 billion.
We exclude New Zealand and Australia given it has no relevant industry sector. We add the United States as an additional country due to its strong economy: $2.4 trillion in 2020 - we see them in both categories in 2010. The other emerging market nations do not make any appearance whatsoever in our rankings
There is quite considerable movement between the regions, as seen below:
Within 30 days of the report being published, there were eight changes, all within five years of the report. Sixteen of those changes took place from 2015 through 2020, five more than the average change. Some new entrants moved up, some down, but others remained just the same.
The current number of employees in each company’s Shanghai headquarters (in 2017) is shown. For example, in 2018, Chinese companies hired nearly twice as much staff in Shanghai compared to the previous decade; however, in 2016, the ratio dropped to less than half that figure. A similar pattern can be seen when measuring employment in Beijing versus Mumbai or Singapore versus Bangkok. However, Tokyo maintains strong ties to Tokyo, with a total workforce of approximately 200,000 employees when comparing 2017 and 2018.
Companies with head offices in Shanghai account for about a third of global corporate output, based on annual financial figures for last year. Companies headquartered elsewhere in the pandemic were forced to close a lot of office space, especially given economic challenges. That meant fewer jobs to go around and fewer people who could fill those roles. Yet despite this move, Shanghai still accounts for more than 85% of all international corporations, with a large proportion also located in the United Arab Emirates, which is home to many regional and even global leaders in technology, manufacturing, entertainment and retail.
