Some countries' fortunes are incredibly entwined with a single company.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

SOME countries' fortunes are incredibly entwined with a single company. The case of Nokia, a Finnish mobile-phone manufacturer, is well documented: it contributed a quarter to Finnish GDP growth between 1998 and 2007. But do any other countries rely so heavily on a single company? Using a crude comparison of a company's annual revenue and its domicile's economic output, The Economist has identified the firms with the greatest national clout across 53 markets. Energy firms dominate the list because of their enormous throughput. Others feature because of their choice of domicile: ArcelorMittal, a steel company, has few of its operations in Luxembourg. Strip out these kinds of companies and only Hon Hai, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, ranks above Nokia. But most of Hon Hai's employment is in China, and its share of national patent applications last year was just 8%, compared with Nokia's 27%. The importance of Nokia to Finland looks like a one-off.

See full article here

[mawilson 2,133]

Samsung shares fell 7.5% today. Can't be good for South Korea if Samsung accounts for 10% of their GDP.

[X Factor 1,112]

Basic economics is diversification .... these countries are highly at risk.

[rocks 494]

Nokia still exists?