Here are 10 companies whose influence reaches far across the world.
Apart from the world's 10 most influential companies, let us also have a look at the masters of their domain -- companies that completely dominate their market.
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World's 10 most influential companies
1. Apple
Location: Cupertino, California
Industry: Information Technology
Apple is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.
The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
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World's 10 most influential companies
2. Unilever
Location: London
Industry: Consumer Products
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.
Unilever owns more than 400 brands as a result of acquisitions, however, the company focuses on what are called the 'billion-dollar brands', 13 brands, each of which achieve annual sales in excess of 1 billion euros.
Unilever's top 25 brands account for more than 70 per cent of sales.
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World's 10 most influential companies
3. JPMorgan Chase
Location: New York
Industry: Banking
JPMorgan Chase is an American multinational banking corporation of securities, investments and retail.
It is a major provider of financial services, with assets of $2 trillion.
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World's 10 most influential companies
4. Walmart
Location: Bentonville, Arkansas
Industry: Retailing
Wal-Mart Stores, branded as Walmart since 2008, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores.
In 2009, it generated 51 per cent of its $258 billion sales in the US from grocery business.
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World's 10 most influential companies
5. News Corporation
Location: New York
Industry: Media
News Corporation is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third-largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster.
The company's chairman and chief executive is Rupert Murdoch.
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World's 10 most influential companies
6. Toyota
Location: Aichi, Japan
Industry: Automobiles
Toyota is a multinational automaker headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan.
In 2010, it employed 317,734 people worldwide, and was the world's largest automobile manufacturer by production.
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World's 10 most influential companies
7. Saudi Aramco
Location: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Industry: Energy/oil
Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco is most probably the world's most valuable privately-held company, with estimates of its value in 2010 ranging from $2.2 trillion to $7 trillion.
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World's 10 most influential companies
8. Monsanto
Location: St Louis, United States
Industry: Food Products
Monsanto is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as 'Roundup'.
It is also the leading producer of genetically engineered seed; it provides the technology in 90 per cent of the genetically engineered seeds used in the US market.
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World's 10 most influential companies
9. Huawei
Location: Shenzhen, China
Industry: Information Technology
Huawei is a multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
It is the largest China-based networking and telecommunications equipment supplier and the second-largest supplier of mobile telecommunications infrastructure equipment in the world (after Ericsson).
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World's 10 most influential companies
10. Google
Location: Mountain View, California
Industry: Information Technology
Google is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies.
Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords programme.
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World's 10 most influential companies
3M
Location: St Paul, Minnesota
Industry: Consumer Goods
3M is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States.
With over 80,000 employees, they produce more than 55,000 products, including: adhesives, abrasives, laminates, passive fire protection, dental products, electronic materials, medical products, car care products (such as sun films, polish, wax, car shampoo, treatment for the exterior, interior and the under chassis rust protection), electronic circuits and optical films.
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World's 10 most influential companies
Autodesk
Location: San Rafael, California
Industry: Computer Software
Autodesk is an American multinational corporation that focuses on 3D design software for use in architecture, engineering and building construction, manufacturing and media and entertainment.
Autodesk became best known for its flagship computer-aided design software AutoCAD.
In addition to AutoCAD, Autodesk develops digital prototyping solutions to visualize, simulate, and analyze real-world performance using a digital model during the design process.
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World's 10 most influential companies
China Mobile
Location: Hong Kong, China
Industry: Telecom
China Mobile is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company that provides mobile voice and multimedia services through its nationwide mobile telecommunications network, the largest of its kind in the world.
It is the most valuable mobile telecommunications company in the world.
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World's 10 most influential companies
Nielsen
Location: New York, NY
Industry: Marketing Research
Nielsen is a global marketing and advertising research company headquartered in New York City.
It is active in over 100 countries, and employs some 32,000 people worldwide. Total revenues amounted to $4.8 billion in 2009.
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World's 10 most influential companies
YKK
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Industry: Manufacturing
The YKK is a Japanese group of manufacturing companies. As the world's largest zipper manufacturer, YKK is most famous for making zippers; however, it also manufactures other fastening products, architectural products, as well as industrial machinery.
The initials YKK stand for Yoshida Manufacturing Corporation.
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