The businesses within the GLOBAL300 are particularly strong in three broad economic sectors:

• Agriculture
• Financial institutions – insurance, banking, credit unions plus diversified financial organisations
• Retailing and wholesaling

These three broad groupings represent well over 80% of the total number of co-operatives and mutuals in the GLOBAL300.

Agriculture

Almost every one of the countries represented in the GLOBAL300 has at least one agricultural co-operative or conglomerate in the provisional listing. This demonstrates the almost universal application of the co-operative model to the agricultural sector throughout the world. Of the three broad sectors, agricultural co-operatives represented over one third of businesses included.

Over one half of the agricultural co-operatives were based in the USA, with France, Germany and the Netherlands also having significant numbers. Japan and South Korea have very large agricultural co-operative conglomerates in the list and in the case of Japan topping the list.

Financial Institutions

Financial institutions represent a little over a quarter of all businesses listed, yet in terms of assets are the largest.

The insurance sector is well represented in the listing, by both co-operative and mutual organisations, either as stand alone insurance businesses or as part of a wider conglomerate structure. Nearly one third of the insurance co-operatives and mutuals in the list are based in France and the UK.

There are some very large co-operative banking groups and networks in the GLOBAL300 from a range of European countries and also Japan. The USA has a number of Credit Unions represented in the listing.

Retailing and Wholesaling

This is the third major sector in the GLOBAL300, being a little over a quarter of the list.

It encompasses the well known consumer co-operatives in countries such as the UK, Italy, the Nordic countries and other parts of Europe to Japan and North America.

The second component is the large wholesale buying groups which act on behalf of national consumer co-operatives and/or networks of independent retailers. There are good examples of this type of co-operative grouping to be found in the GLOBAL300 from Germany, France, the USA and New Zealand.

Other Sectors Represented

Energy, health services and manufacturing are also represented in the GLOBAL300. In the case of energy by US rural electric co-operatives, while manufacturing co-operatives are mainly from Spain and Italy. In Spain the Mondragon Corporation is not only involved in manufacturing, but also in a wide range of other activities including retailing and education. Health mutuals and co-operatives from a range of European countries, plus North America also feature in the GLOBAL300.