Strong presence of Chinese firms on Fortune list, but challenges remain

Altogether, 124 enterprises from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong were listed on the Global Fortune 500 Company List 2020 released by Fortune magazine on Monday. The mainland and Hong Kong have the most companies on the list, exceeding United States (121) for the first time.

Three Chinese enterprises－Sinopec Group, State Grid and China National Petroleum－made it to the Global Fortune 500's top 10 list. And three others－Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China－to the top 10 profitable companies' list.

That is indicative of the great growth potential of Chinese enterprises and economy. When Fortune magazine first released the Global Fortune 500 Company List in 1995, there were just four Chinese enterprises on it. But all that changed with further opening-up and China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001.

Chinese enterprises perform well in terms of sales revenue and net assets. In 2019, Chinese enterprises' average sales revenue was $66.9 billion, which is higher than the Global Fortune 500 companies' average of $66.6 billion. And the average net asset was $36.44 billion, that of the Global Fortune 500 companies' average being $36.4 billion.

Among seven internet companies on the Fortune list, four are Chinese－Tencent, Alibaba, JD.com and MI.com.

Huawei has overcome various challenges to increase its ranking from 61 last year to 49 this year.

Chinese enterprises have made great progress, and the fact that they have maintained much of their competitive edge during the pandemic and a global economic downturn is praiseworthy.

However, we should also be aware of the challenges. Chinese enterprises' profitability is comparatively lower than the average level of Global Fortune 500 companies. It is also crucial for Chinese enterprises to improve their capacity to build a global value chain to cope with the negative impacts of the pandemic and trade frictions.