After years of expansion, the foreign operations of the top 50 non-financial transnational corporations (TNCs) worldwide (as measured by foreign assets, sales and employment) stagnated in 2001, the latest year with complete data. Despite the bursting of the information and communication technology bubble, the industrial composition of the top 50 did not change significantly compared to earlier years. Petroleum and automobile companies remain high on the list, led in 2001 by Vodafone, a telecommunications company. In general, the top 50 span a wide range of industries covering all major sectors. Owing to privatization programmes in many developed and developing countries, the list has in recent years included an increasing number of TNCs involved in telecommunications and utilities.

Most TNCs are headquartered in the United States, the European Union or Japan - the so-called Triad, which also accounts for the largest share of foreign direct investment worldwide. The United States is home to the largest number of TNCs (11), followed by France (8), Germany (8), the United Kingdom (7) and Japan (4). The list also includes numerous TNCs from smaller countries such as Switzerland, Finland and the Netherlands, demonstrating that a large home market is not an indispensable precondition for the emergence of large TNCs.

In recent years, the number of developing-country TNCs on the top-50 list has increased. In 2001, the list included four companies from developing countries - Hutchinson Whampoa, Singtel, Cemex and LG Electronics. This trend is expected to continue as companies from developing countries (especially in Asia) increasingly internationalize their operations, not just within the region but also worldwide.