Analysis: Fortune 500 Companies Global Footprint

The list of Fortune 500 companies is a prestigious one. These companies must be American and are ranked according to their revenue for their most recent fiscal year. Although all these companies must start in America, a lot of them have expanded beyond our borders.

A recent analysis looked into how Fortune 500 companies expanded internationally and at the kind of global footprint they currently maintain.

When Do Fortune 500 Companies Decide to Expand?

On average it takes about 30 years for companies to expand internationally. Few companies take longer than 30 years, wholesalers typically take 32 years and retail companies 34. When companies of this size do decide to expand, they work with business professionals like, Declan Kelly of Teneo, who help them navigate this path. But on the other end of that, aerospace and defense companies take on average 7 years to expand beyond the U.S.

CapRelo says, “The food and drug companies officially listed on the Fortune 500 were all formed as the result of mergers between companies with existing international operations, meaning they all actually started out with a global footprint in year zero.”

How Many International Locations Do the Companies Have? 

173 of the Fortune 500 companies have zero international locations. 124 companies have between 1-25 international locations and only 15 companies have over 1,000 locations internationally.

Most Common International Location:

74 companies chose Canada when opening their first non-U.S. location, which is double the next location, the United Kingdom.  London won as the most chosen city to launch an international location.

Who has the Most Overseas Locations?

America loves our fast food and so do other countries because McDonald’s can be found in more than 23,000 locations outside of the U.S. The next company with the largest amount of international locations is Western Union, which can be found in 205 different nations.

Nearly half the Fortune 500 companies have decided to move their company headquarters. Although most moves have been within the U.S., it seems moving overseas has only helped these companies grow and expand.

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