The infographic below from Book Your Data “breaks down the American companies who raked in the most revenue per state for 2014 and 2015 and also identifies the top five companies per world regions including North America, Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.”
Click the infographic for a larger version.
I noticed that most of the states had one company that recorded the highest revenue in both 2014 and 2015. This leads me to believe that companies that start out or expand into America and then focus on certain states or regions. But at the same time there were also states that had different companies earn the highest revenue in 2015. Were the companies in those states that earned the most in 2014 doing something wrong in terms of marketing to explain why they didn’t have the most sales in the following year?
It’s hard to be number 1 in each year
According to my understanding of the information being provided, I realized that how much revenues a company can generate is highly dependent on the geographic factors as different locations adopt different culture and living standards, so if a company wants to maximize its profit to its fullest potential, the company or its products have to cater the needs and wants of the consumers. Furthermore, companies can invest in regions where certain resources are abundant to develop their business. For example, Latin America and Africa is abundant in oil and gas, so companies that are successful in making the most profits in those regions are those in the oil and gas industry.
good observations
These companies have such a great potential to impact the world in a very positive way if their revenue was channeled to solve one of the world’s biggest problems; access to clean water. In January of 2015 The World Economic Forum reported that the water crises is the #1 global risk based on the impact to society. 1 in 10 people lack access to clean water and more people have a mobile phone over a toilet. In Haiti, unclean water is one of the primary causes of illness and many of those who get sick cannot afford the necessary medical treatment. In the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, families spend almost half of their monthly income to pay for water. Only 29% of people in Somalia have access to clean water and the rest spend hours walking to the closest area for clean water. This prevents children from being able to attain an education, or even interact with their friends. Even countries with abundant rainfall like Bangladesh are dealing with a water crisis. Bangladesh is overpopulated and the country lacks sanitation facilities, causing waste to flow into and pollute rivers. There are many solutions to the water criss, but they can be expensive. For example, desalination is the process of removing sodium chloride (salt) from water. Since most of the earth’s water is saltwater in the oceans, desalination could create
a much greater amount of available freshwater to the world’s population but this is very costly and energy-intensive. In order to do this, large amounts of money would need to be invested in this process. Imagine if these companies agreed to give 0.5% of their revenue toward this global cause. Together, just the top 5 companies alone (Walmart, Exxon Mobile, Chevron, Berkshire Hathaway, and Apple) could generate 7.248B US Dollars. If these companies came together to change the world, their impact would be huge. The could create jobs for not only people in America, but overseas as well. To implement a water sanitation system or a sewage system would require people to be educated on the topic, and would create many jobs for people, as well as create a way to positively impact the world. I believe we are here for a short time and have a responsibility to give back to others. Money makes the world go around, but we have the power to control the direction it’s going. The potential to change the world for the better is infinite. The possibilities are endless.
The following article helped me to better understand how many different companies exist and how geographic’s greatly affect the popularity of a company. They all contribute to development in different ways. It was not surprising to read that Walmart was a top company of revenue in North America. The diagram was very useful in the comparison of the two years and different states.