Many different analytical pieces we come across focus on specific industries or verticals and those are often based on fairly specific labeling of industry schema – SIC codes or NAICs, etc.
We have taken a broader view for analysis and trend purposes. Each company in our database gets assigned a specific segment label and those are largely based on global SIC code schemes. We assign them based on where the company derives most of their revenue even though they may have products and services in multiple segments. Then each segment is rolled up to a higher industry level.
That concept generally works ok, but there are many cases where an ecosystem approach can provide better insight. We use this ecosystem approach in transportation as one example where we look at all the data for transporting everything – people and “things” – by land, sea, air, rail or water.
Another ecosystem is food where many parts of the food chain move in synch and often need to be examined in tandem. In this food cohort, we have identified a top 400 companies that include agriculture, food & beverage manufacturers, restaurants and food stores. They are all interrelated and somewhat dependent on one another. It is a convenient way to look at a market.
This ‘Food 400” includes Cargill at the top with over $185 billion in revenue down to pizza maker Papa John’s with $2.1 billion in revenue. In total, they account for $6.4 trillion in revenue and employ over 21 million people.
Coming out of Covid in 2021, revenues for this group of companies grew 13%, then 8.4% in 2022 but 2023 and 2024 growth slowed to 1%. That slow growth mode for the past couple of years could be one of the drivers behind the current pain we are all feeling at the grocery stores and when we enjoy a meal out. Companies need to show growth – and they haven’t been.
Contact us for more information about these food-based companies or other elements of The Global 5000