The 

Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks
the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after
adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect.[1] The
list includes publicly and privately-held companies for which revenues are publicly available.
The first Fortune 500 list was published in 1955.

Wal-Mart was the largest company on the list in 2007 and 2008. ExxonMobil was in second
place[2] in 2007 and 2008, but overtook Wal-Mart in 2009.[3] Wal-Mart once again regained
the top spot in 2010.

Although the Fortune 500 list is the most familiar one, similar gross revenue lists of the top
firms range from the highest ranking Fortune 100 including the top one hundred to the
broader ranking Fortune 1000 that includes the top thousand firms. While the membership
on the smaller lists are somewhat stable, the ranking on the lists may change over time,
depending upon revenues and often, because of mergers among firms already listed.

The original Fortune 500 was restricted to companies whose revenues were derived from
manufacturing, mining, or energy exploration. At the same time, Fortune published
companion "Fortune 50" lists of the 50 largest commercial banks (ranked by assets), utilities
(ranked by assets), life insurance companies (ranked by assets), retailers (ranked by gross
revenues) and transportation companies (ranked by revenues). These have been
consolidated into one single list, so the Fortune 500 as it exists today includes companies
that in previous years would have been on one of the "Fortune 50" lists

 ABB  Iberdrola
 ABN Amro Holding  Idemitsu Kosan
 Accenture  Indian Oil
   
 more...  more...
 Bae Systems  J C Penney
 Banca Intesa  J.P Morgan Chase & co.
 Banco Bradesco  J Sainsbury
   
 more...  more...
 Canadian Imperial Bank of     Commerce  Kajima
 Canon  Kansai Electric Power
 Cardinal Health  Karstadtquelle
   
 more...
 Dai Ichi Mutual Life
 Daimlerchrysler
 Dai Nippon Printing
 more...
 Eads
 East Japan Railway
 Eastman Kodak
 
 more...
 LafargeL M Ericsson
 Lagardère Groupe
 Landesbank Baden Wüttemberg
 more...
 Magna International
 Man Group
 Manpower
more...

 more...  Naitonal Grid Tansco

 Fdederated Dept Stor  National Australia Bank

 Fedex  Nationawide

 Fiat  
   more...

 more...  Oao Gazprom

 Gap  Obayashi

 Gasunie  Office Depot

 Gaz De France  
   more...

 more...  Pemex

 Halliburton  Pepsico

 Hanwha  Petrobras

 Hartford Financial Services  

   more...

 more...  Qwest Communications

 Rabobank
 RAG
 Raytheon
 
 more...
 Sabic
 Safeway
 Saint Gobain
 
 more...
 T&D Holdings
 Taisei
 Target
 
 more...
 US Postal Service
 UAL
  UBS 
 
 more...
 Valero Energy
 Vattenfall
 Veolia Environnement
 
 more...
 Wachovia Corp
 Walgreen
 Wal Mart Stores
 
 more...

Economies of scale, in microeconomics, refers to the cost advantages that a business

obtains due to expansion. There are factors that cause a producer’s average cost per unit to
fall as the scale of output is increased. "Economies of scale" is a long run concept and refers
to reductions in unit cost as the size of a facility and the usage levels of other inputs
increase.[1] Diseconomies of scale are the opposite. The common sources of economies of
scale are purchasing (bulk buying of materials through long-term contracts), managerial
(increasing the specialization of managers), financial (obtaining lower-interest charges when
borrowing from banks and having access to a greater range of financial
instruments), marketing (spreading the cost of advertising over a greater range of output
in media markets), and technological (taking advantage of returns to scale in the production
function). Each of these factors reduces the long run average costs(LRAC) of production by
shifting the short-run average total cost (SRATC) curve down and to the right. Economies of
scale are also derived partially from learning by doing.

Economies of scale is a practical concept that is important for explaining real world
phenomena such as patterns of international trade, the number of firms in a market, and how
firms get "too big to fail". The exploitation of economies of scale helps explain why
companies grow large in some industries. It is also a justification for free trade policies, since
some economies of scale may require a larger market than is possible within a particular
country — for example, it would not be efficient for Liechtenstein to have its own car maker,
if they would only sell to their local market. A lone car maker may be profitable, however, if
they export cars to global markets in addition to selling to the local market. Economies of
scale also play a role in a "natural monopoly."

Economies of scope are conceptually similar to economies of scale. Whereas 'economies

of scale' for a firm primarily refers to reductions in average cost (cost per unit) associated
with increasing the scale of production for a single product type, 'economies of scope' refers
to lowering average cost for a firm in producing two or more products. The term and concept
development are due to Panzar and Willig (1977, 1981).[1] Here, economies of scope make
product diversification efficient if they are based on the common and recurrent use of
proprietary knowhow or on an indivisible physical asset.[2]For example as the number of
products promoted is increased, more people can be reached per dollar spent. At some
point, additional advertising expenditure on new products may start to be less effective (an
example of diseconomies of scope). Related examples and distribution of different types
of products, product bundling, product lining, and family branding.

If a sales force is selling several products they can often do so more efficiently than if they
are selling only one product. The cost of their travel time is distributed over a greater
revenue base, so cost efficiency improves. There can also be synergies between products
such that offering a complete range of products gives the consumer a more desirable
product offering than a single product would. Economies of scope can also operate through
distribution efficiencies. It can be more efficient to ship a range of products to any given
location than to ship a single type of product to that location.

Further economies of scope occur when there are cost-savings arising from by-products in
the production process. An example would be the benefits of heating from energy production
having a positive effect on agricultural yields.

A company which sells many product lines, sells the same product in many countries, or
sells many product lines in many countries will benefit from reduced risk levels as a result of
its economies of scope. If one of its product lines falls out of fashion or one country has an
economic slowdown, the company will, most likely, be able to continue trading.

Not all economists agree on the importance of economies of scope. Some argue that it only
applies to certain industries, and then only rarely