What percentage of the earth's surface is occupied collectively by the
top ten or a dozen American chain and franchise operations?
I am thinking of McDonald's, 7-11, Shell gas stations, or whatever
else you would place in that category of commercial establishments
that you see on every other corner in urban areas of the U.S. and that
also do have or may have a presence abroad.
I would define "top ten or a dozen" in terms of either (a) number of
outlets or (b) dollars of revenue, whichever makes the most sense or
is the most readily available. The range is to allow leeway if
there's a close match between contenders at the cutoff and also to
allow for picking whichever figure makes the most interesting or
telling statistic. For instance, if 10 chains just come out to some
number or other, but 11 come out to an area the size of Wyoming, pick
11.
I would define surface area as square footage of the average location
on the earth (i.e., number of floors, if floors there be, is
immaterial). For instance, there is probably a specified size or size
range for a 7-11. Whatever that average or most common or standard
size is, I would use that and multiply it by the number of locations.
Finally, to answer the question in the terms in which it was posed,
percentage of the earth's surface has to be computed. I would like
the raw figure, too, so I can (or you can, for a bonus) compare it
with the size of Wyoming or Rhode Island or Des Moines or Canada, and
I'd like the list of chains and franchises you made out to be the top
space-users, but the final answer is a ratio.
Sheer curiosity this time, of a slightly queasy sort, much as with the
one about how much of the human body weight is accounted for by
bacteria.
Thank you,
Apteryx |
