I need a list of the top 500 consumer companies, to be used by my
www.gethuman.com project. I need the source to be authoritative and
definitive. I'm really looking for the 500 companies/organizations
which are most called by consumers so please let me know if you have
ideas for how close if at all we can get to that goal.

Hello englishpaulm2-ga,

Thank-you for your question.

One of the most respected sources for information such as this is
Fortune Magazine.  Each year they compile lists of the largest
companies in the world and make the information available.

Below I have compiled the Fortune Global 500 or the top 500 companies in the world:

1 WalMart Stores    
2 BP  
3 Exxon Mobil  
4 Royal Dutch/Shell Group  
5 General Motors  
6 DaimlerChrysler  
7 Toyota Motor  
8 Ford Motor  
9 General Electric  
10 Total  
11 ChevronTexaco  
12 ConocoPhillips  
13 AXA  
14 Allianz  
15 Volkswagen  
16 Citigroup  
17 ING Group  
18 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone  
19 American Intl. Group  
20 Intl. Business Machines  
21 Siemens  
22 Carrefour  
23 Hitachi  
24 Assicurazioni Generali  
25 Matsushita Electric Industrial  
26 McKesson  
27 Honda Motor  
28 HewlettPackard  
29 Nissan Motor  
30 Fortis  
31 Sinopec  
32 Berkshire Hathaway  
33 ENI  
34 Home Depot  
35 Aviva  
36 HSBC Holdings  
37 Deutsche Telekom  
38 Verizon Communications  
39 Samsung Electronics  
40 State Grid  
41 Peugeot  
42 Metro  
43 Nestlé  
44 U.S. Postal Service  
45 BNP Paribas  
46 China National Petroleum  
47 Sony  
48 Cardinal Health  
49 Royal Ahold  
50 Altria Group  
51 Pemex  
52 Bank of America Corp.  
53 Vodafone  
54 Tesco  
55 Munich Re Group  
56 Nippon Life Insurance  
57 Fiat  
58 Royal Bank of Scotland  
59 Zurich Financial Services  
60 Crédit Agricole  
61 Credit Suisse  
62 State Farm Insurance Cos  
63 France Télécom  
64 Électricité De France  
65 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.  
66 UBS  
67 Kroger  
68 Deutsche Bank  
69 E.ON  
70 Deutsche Post  
71 BMW  
72 Toshiba  
73 Valero Energy  
74 AmerisourceBergen  
75 Pfizer  
76 Boeing  
77 Procter & Gamble  
78 RWE  
79 Suez  
80 Renault  
81 Unilever  
82 Target  
83 Robert Bosch  
84 Dell  
85 ThyssenKrupp  
86 Costco Wholesale  
87 HBOS  
88 Johnson & Johnson  
89 Prudential  
90 Tokyo Electric Power  
91 BASF  
92 Hyundai Motor  
93 Enel  
94 Marathon Oil  
95 Statoil  
96 NEC  
97 Repsol YPF  
98 Daiichi Mutual Life Insurance  
99 Fujitsu  
100 Time Warner  
101 ABN AMRO Holding  
102 SBC Communications  
103 Tyco International  
104 Dow Chemical  
105 Albertson's  
106 SaintGobain  
107 Morgan Stanley  
108 MetLife  
109 EADS  
110 Barclays  
111 Telecom Italia  
112 AEON  
113 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance  
114 Telefónica  
115 LG Electronics  
116 Royal Philips Electronics  
117 SK  
118 Arcelor  
119 Walgreen  
120 United Technologies  
121 Groupe Auchan  
122 GlaxoSmithKline  
123 UnitedHealth Group  
124 Bayer  
125 Petrobrás  
126 CNP Assurances  
127 Microsoft  
128 United Parcel Service  
129 Lowe's  
130 Nokia  
131 Archer Daniels Midland  
132 Sears Roebuck  
133 Petronas  
134 Safeway  
135 Lockheed Martin  
136 Aegon  
137 Medco Health Solutions  
138 Motorola  
139 OAO Gazprom  
140 BT  
141 Intel  
142 Nippon Oil  
143 Allstate  
144 Wells Fargo  
145 ItoYokado  
146 Centrica  
147 Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group  
148 Mitsui  
149 Mitsubishi  
150 Freddie Mac  
151 Merrill Lynch  
152 Société Générale  
153 DZ Bank  
154 Canon  
155 Santander Central Hispano Group  
156 Mitsubishi Electric  
157 Nippon Steel  
158 Sumitomo Life Insurance  
159 Walt Disney  
160 Veolia Environnement  
161 CVS  
162 AT&T  
163 Caterpillar  
164 Franz Haniel  
165 Groupe PinaultPrintemps  
166 Northrop Grumman  
167 Goldman Sachs Group  
168 Deutsche Bahn  
169 Foncière Euris  
170 Indian Oil  
171 Sysco  
172 PepsiCo  
173 Groupe Caisse d'Épargne  
174 American Express  
175 Bouygues  
176 Swiss Reinsurance  
177 Lloyds TSB Group  
178 Lukoil  
179 Delphi  
180 Volvo  
181 Rabobank  
182 J. Sainsbury  
183 Prudential Financial  
184 Mizuho Financial Group  
185 Marubeni  
186 Novartis  
187 Wachovia Corp.  
188 DuPont  
189 A.P. MøllerMærsk Group  
190 SNCF  
191 Best Buy  
192 Sprint  
193 New York Life Insurance  
194 KDDI  
195 HVB Group  
196 Viacom  
197 Millea Holdings  
198 International Paper  
199 Vivendi Universal  
200 Johnson Controls  
201 Tyson Foods  
202 JFE Holdings  
203 Denso  
204 Caremark Rx  
205 J.C. Penney  
206 Honeywell Intl.  
207 Ingram Micro  
208 Bunge  
209 Roche Group  
210 Vinci  
211 Mazda Motor  
212 China Life Insurance  
213 Anglo American  
214 Alcan  
215 FedEx  
216 Norsk Hydro  
217 Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group  
218 Almanij  
219 Kansai Electric Power  
220 British American Tobacco  
221 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries  
222 Air FranceKLM Group  
223 Alcoa  
224 China Mobile Communications  
225 Sharp  
226 East Japan Railway  
227 Fuji Photo Film  
228 HCA  
229 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China  
230 TIAACREF  
231 TUI  
232 RAG  
233 La Poste  
234 Sunoco  
235 Coles Myer  
236 Mass. Mutual Life Ins.  
237 Sanyo Electric  
238 George Weston  
239 Merck  
240 St. Paul Travelers Cos.  
241 BHP Billiton  
242 Delhaize Group  
243 Duke Energy  
244 BellSouth  
245 Hartford Financial Services  
246 Weyerhaeuser  
247 MCI  
248 UES of Russia  
249 Gaz de France  
250 Bridgestone  
251 Samsung Life Insurance  
252 William Morrison Supermarkets  
253 Mittal Steel  
254 Cisco Systems  
255 Suzuki Motor  
256 Endesa  
257 CocaCola  
258 ABB  
258 BristolMyers Squibb  
260 Hilton Group  
261 Legal & General Group  
262 China Telecommunications  
263 T&D Holdings  
264 UFJ Holdings  
265 Adecco  
266 Idemitsu Kosan  
267 AstraZeneca  
268 Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria  
269 National Australia Bank  
270 Lehman Brothers Hldgs.  
271 Bertelsmann  
272 Compass Group  
273 Lufthansa Group  
274 Electronic Data Systems  
275 Plains All Amer. Pipeline  
276 POSCO  
277 Korea Electric Power  
278 Old Mutual  
279 Manulife Financial  
280 Wellpoint  
281 Landesbank BadenWürttemberg  
282 News Corp.  
283 Magna International  
284 Nationwide  
285 Abbott Laboratories  
286 Halliburton  
287 Sinochem  
288 Mitsubishi Chemical  
289 Woolworths  
290 Comcast  
291 Dexia Group  
292 Raytheon  
293 Groupama  
294 Michelin  
295 3M  
296 Deere  
297 Cendant  
298 Aetna  
299 GeorgiaPacific  
300 Chubu Electric Power  
301 Japan Airlines  
302 Tech Data  
303 Liberty Mutual Ins. Group  
304 Mitsubishi Motors  
305 AutoNation  
306 Kmart Holding  
307 Sara Lee  
308 General Dynamics  
309 Shanghai Baosteel Group  
310 Supervalu  
311 UniCredito Italiano  
312 Royal Bank of Canada  
313 Sumitomo  
314 McDonald's  
315 China Construction Bank  
316 China Southern Power Grid  
317 Otto Group  
318 Nippon Mining Holdings  
319 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance  
320 Japan Tobacco  
321 SanofiAventis  
322 Publix Super Markets  
323 Power Corp. of Canada  
324 Visteon  
325 AMR  
326 MAN Group  
327 Itochu  
328 Commerzbank  
329 Swiss Life  
330 Goodyear Tire & Rubber  
331 Sabic  
332 ConAgra Foods  
333 Cigna  
334 CocaCola Enterprises  
335 Banca Intesa  
336 L'Oréal  
337 Japan Post  
338 L.M. Ericsson  
339 Bank Of China  
340 Lafarge  
341 Wolseley  
342 Northwestern Mutual  
343 KarstadtQuelle  
344 Sompo Japan Insurance  
345 Lagardère Groupe  
346 Wyeth  
347 Hutchison Whampoa  
348 Alstom  
349 Amerada Hess  
350 Corus Group  
351 Groupe Danone  
352 SHV Holdings  
353 Daiei  
354 Aisin Seiki  
355 Lear  
356 Ricoh  
357 Rite Aid  
358 Sun Life Financial Services  
359 BAE Systems  
360 Royal & Sun Alliance  
361 Royal Mail Holdings  
362 Skanska  
363 Bayerische Landesbank  
364 Electrolux  
365 Dior (Christian)  
366 UAL  
367 Migros  
368 Nippon Express  
369 Alliance Unichem  
370 Gap  
371 Hon Hai Precision Industry  
372 Sumitomo Electric Industries  
373 PTT  
374 Washington Mutual  
375 Flextronics International  
376 Banco Bradesco  
377 Taisei  
378 Computer Sciences  
379 Bombardier  
380 Akzo Nobel  
381 Xerox  
382 National Grid Transco  
383 TNT  
384 Kajima  
385 Continental  
386 Cepsa  
387 Federated Dept. Stores  
388 Emerson Electric  
389 Koc Holding  
390 Mediceo Holdings  
391 Vattenfall  
392 Stora Enso  
393 Hanwha  
394 KimberlyClark  
395 Premcor  
396 Cosmo Oil  
397 Agricultural Bank of China  
398 CRH  
399 Alcatel  
400 KFW Bankengruppe  
401 Telstra  
402 Chinese Petroleum  
403 William Hill  
404 Gasunie  
405 Express Scripts  
406 Commonwealth Bank of Australia  
407 Hochteif  
408 Delta Air Lines  
409 Tohoku Electric Power  
410 Nippon Yusen  
411 AnheuserBusch  
412 Manpower  
413 TJX  
414 KT  
415 San Paolo IMI  
416 BCE  
417 Reliance Industries  
418 Royal KPN  
419 Banco Do Brasil  
420 U.S. Bancorp  
421 Marks & Spencer  
422 AMP  
423 Loews  
424 Exelon  
425 Fortum  
426 CFE  
427 Staples  
428 May Dept. Stores  
429 Bharat Petroleum  
430 Edeka Zentrale  
431 British Airways  
432 GUS  
433 American Electric Power  
434 COFCO  
435 ACS  
436 Hindustan Petroleum  
437 United States Steel  
438 Kingfisher  
439 Countrywide Financial  
440 Dominion Resources  
441 Eurohypo  
442 Samsung  
443 Sodexho Alliance  
444 Isuzu Motors  
445 Eli Lilly  
446 SK Networks  
447 Eastman Kodak  
448 China First Automotive Works  
449 AREVA  
450 Shimizu  
451 Qwest Communications  
452 Progressive  
453 Seiko Epson  
454 Oil & Natural Gas  
455 Accenture  
456 Asahi Glass  
457 Onex  
458 Nordea Bank  
459 Office Depot  
460 WestLB  
461 Fuji Heavy Industries  
462 Kobe Steel  
463 Nextel Communications  
464 Komatsu  
465 AFLAC  
466 OfficeMax  
467 Dai Nippon Printing  
468 Whirlpool  
469 Chubb  
470 Henkel  
471 Toppan Printing  
472 Central Japan Railway  
473 Kyushu Electric Power  
474 Humana  
475 Obayashi  
476 FirstEnergy  
477 Westpac Banking  
478 Solectron  
479 Schneider Electric  
480 Danske Bank Group  
481 Centex  
482 Iberdrola  
483 Asahi Kasei  
484 Williams  
485 Thales Group  
486 Sekisui House  
487 Daiwa House Industry  
488 Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce  
489 Scottish Power  
490 Australia & New Zealand Banking  
491 Texas Instruments  
492 Constellation Energy  
493 Waste Management  
494 Bank of Nova Scotia  
495 Tenet Healthcare  
496 Yamaha Motor  
497 Heineken  
498 SCA (Svenska Cellulosa)  
499 EnCana  
500 Masco  

This list and further breakdowns of the companies can be found here:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/

A similar list is published by Forbes magazine but it is ranked
slightly differently.  You can discover the details of this list here:

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/03/30/05f2000land.htmlThe

Further information can be discovered here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_500
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_Global_500
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_Global_2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_world%27s_largest_companies

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to
ask for clarification.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by englishpaulm2-ga on 25 Mar 2006 13:11 PST

Hello Palitoy, thank you for your answer.

I am indeed very familiar with the Fortune 500 lists, but what I'm
looking for is not the biggest companies, but instead the biggest
CONSUMER companies. E.g., you have IBM on your list, but they
primarily sell to businesses not to consumers.

Also-- and here is the tricky part-- I am looking for your insight as
to how we can make an EDUCATED guess as which consumer companies get
the most phone calls from consumers. For example, while Exxon is the
biggest company, the nature of their business does not require
frequent phone calls to them from their customers. That is the tricky
part, and the reason for my inquiry in the first place.

And I would like the list to be based ideally on the number of calls
from US-based customers.

I realize that I'm asking for something non-obvious, which is why I
posted it here as a $100 question. :)

Kind regards,
Paul

---

Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 26 Mar 2006 01:15 PST

Hello Paul,

When posting questions such as this, it is always helpful to post as
much information as possible for the researcher.  In this case you
seem to have missed out a number of important details (such as you
require only US companies).  As a researcher I do not look at the
pricing of the question and judge whether I should answer solely on
whether I think I can give the customer a good answer or not - some
customers post questions that are very simple to answer with a single
line for $50 or more and are happy with a single line answer.

I have tried to come as close to the answer as I believe anyone can do
without making a list up (you did state you wanted an authoritative
source).  I have also just noticed this is the second time you have
posted this question and the first time you did not receive any
solutions at all...

With regards to my answer, I believe the majority of the companies on
the list will deal directly with consumers (depending on what your
definition of a consumer is) and personally I would rather have an
authoritative answer (which I believe mine is) than a guess which is
what it appears you require from your clarification.  No-one can draw
up a list of the top 500 companies who get the most customer or
consumer calls without insider knowledge of 500 companies; you can
therefore only gauge an answer based on the number of customers that
they have.  A good(-ish) indicator on the number of customers is the
revenue of the company.

The bottom line is it is impossible to KNOW the number of consumer
calls a company receives without insider information.  Without that
information you can only guess and by guessing you will never get an
"authoritative and definitive" source.  I believe the lists (please
remember I gave you worldwide and US lists in the links) give you an
excellent starting point for continuing your research and building
your database.

If you are still unhappy with the answer I would direct you to the
Google Answers FAQ:
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html#refund

---

Request for Answer Clarification by englishpaulm2-ga on 28 Mar 2006 03:48 PST

Hello everyone, 

I have filled out the form to ask for a refund for this question, I
don't know how Google Answers handles this stuff, but we'll see.

I will then repost the question in the hopes that someone can find
what I'm looking for.

Thank you,
Paul

---

Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 28 Mar 2006 04:55 PST

I am sorry you did not wish to work with me further to get the
solution you require.  I still believe, after all my research, that
this is the closest that anyone can give you to the list you require.

I have noticed that while people are happy to "bash" this answer there
is nobody willing to offer /constructive/ criticism of it and to
actually propose an actual answer, maybe you will have more success
asking the question again as you propose.  When doing this please be
sure to specify the exact requirements of your question including
whether you require a real answer or just someone's best guess.

I would suggest posting the question something like this:

"Please provide me with a list of the top 500 companies that are
called by customers in the USA.  Please include an authoritative and
definitive source for the list.

My previous research has included the Forbes or Fortune lists that are
published annually (not what is required) as well as [... put in here
what other research you have done ...].

I am looking to build a database to... [put your intentions here but
you should not include your site URL as this is strictly against
Google Answers rules]."

Hopefully with wording similar to this another researcher will be
willing to take up your cause.

The Google Answers Editors will deal with your question as soon as
possible - I believe they don't prioritize anything and just work
their way down their list of problems to sort out (after a weekend is
always a busy period so it may take a day or so).

Once again I am sorry you were unhappy with the answer and I hope you
will continue to use Google Answers.

The answer did not meet spec: (1) the list provided by the answer was
generic fortune 500, not limited to consumer companies and (2) the
researcher made no attempt at discussing my real needs which the
companies most called by consumers.

The web site referenced in the question states in the first line of
the home page that the scope of their work is U.S. based, not global.
Whilst not specifically stated in the question, one would assume that
a researcher considering a $100 question would view the reference web
site in order to gain a context for the answer.

It is inconceivable that someone looking for top 500 consumer
companies would not already be familiar with 'Fortune 500' magazine,
and thus find the global fortune online for free or in print for the
cost of a magazine, rather than pay $100 for a copy and paste from
cnn.com

I very much doubt that 'BP'(the number 2 listed) or Matsushita
Electric (number 25 listed) would be amognst the top 500 companies
'called by consumers' as stated as a criterion in the question.

eppy-ga, thank-you for your comments which I believe are rather
aggressive in nature and a way off the mark.

As you rightly stated, the customer did not state whether he required
US or Global data therefore I went for the broadest answer which is
the Global data.  I did review the customer's website prior to
answering the question so please do not make assumptions that are
incorrect when trying to criticize my answer.  If you took the time to
read my answer in full you will notice that I also referenced the
US-only data for the customer.

Secondly, I do not agree with your second point.  There is no way in
measuring whether a person is familiar with the Fortune Global (or US)
500 website.  Not everyone reads the business papers and many have no
financial background at all which would make these sites obscure to
them.

Your third point is a matter of opinion.  Remember the sites are not
listed in order of the number of calls from consumers - there is no
way of compiling that list without insider knowledge at 500 different
companies.  Additionally BP and Matsushita Electric *will* have a
large number of customer queries, I assume you have heard of
Panasonic, JVC, Technics, Quaser?  All of these companies are
divisions of Matsushita Electric.

The question asks for a list of the top 500 companies which are most
called by consumers.

The answer provided lists the top 500 companies as measured by revenue.

It doesn't come close to answering the question, which is clearly
stated. This is daylight robbery! Of course its not a straight forward
question, hence the $100 price tag. The answer provided is for a $2
question.

Either answer the question as originally asked, or refund this man's money.