Rudy Fichtenbaum wrote:
>In 1960 sales of the Fortune 500 relative to overall sales in the U.S.
>economy were about 40 percent This number rose steadily until 1980
>reaching about 60 percent. Between 1980 and 1990 the number declined
>back down to about 40 percent. However, by 1999 the number had reached
>an all time high of 69 percent. (Sales numbers for the U.S. are from
>the NIPA and are final sales. Sales of the Fortune 500 include all
>sales an thus have double counting. However, unless the balance between
>intermediate and final goods has changed the trend is still indicative
>of growing concentration).
Fortune 500 sales are worldwide, though, and multinationals book a
big chunk of their sales abroad; you'd have to correct this for
domestic sales only. The Harvard Business Review study I cited looked
at 40 product markets and found no increasing concentration in any
over the last few decades.
Doug
