Economy of Austria:
The biggest Austrian companies
I am not sure to what extent a look at the biggest companies of a country tells you anything about the economy of the place in general; in fact, it might not even tell you much about culture and demography. In the case of Austria, this applies insofar as the country′s economy relies heavily on small and medium size companies - they are the real powerhouses that keep the country going.
The following list, however, reflects this to some extent: If you ignore companies that deal with raw materials (mostly steel in Austria, a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, when iron ore was already mined in the Alps), retail and construction, the lack of "brand" companies becomes obvious.
Traditional Corporations: Telling about Austrian Culture
There are few "young" companies, most of them are dealing with traditional fields and not so much in the high-tech area; they are often unknown outside of Austria, but actually internationally active. With the exception of Red Bull, Porsche and Swarovski, there is no company in this list that a non-specialist would recognise from its last advertising campaign or a certain product. At the same time, the following list of the 30 biggest companies of Austria (as of 2008) highlights some of the country′s "specialist areas" - such as steel, engineering and more steel - not necessarily what the average tourist would expect.
The famous brands of Austria - Sacher tart, the Lipizzaner horses, companies of the classical music genre, Augarten porcelain, tourism corporations - are all too small to appear in this least. The sexy brands of Austria distort the perception of the really big players, which are the following:
Biggest Companies of Austria - Ranking
1.) OMV (oil and gas company)
2.) Porsche Holding (cars)
3.) Strabag (construction)
4.) Voestalpine (steel)
5.) Spar Group (retail)
6.) Rewe Austria (retail)
7.) Magna International (car and engine manufacturing)
8.) Siemens Austria (electronics and engineering)
9.) Borealis (plastics production)
10.) Mondi (wrapping materials)
11.) ÖBB (national railways)
12.) Telekom Austria (telecommunication)
13.) Spar Organisation (retail)
14.) Heineken Central and Eastern Europe (beer)
15.) Böhler-Uddeholm (steel)
16.) BMW Österreich (cars, obviously)
17.) Alumet (metals, mostly aluminium)
18.) Andritz (engine manufacturing)
19.) Hofer (retail)
20.) Red Bull (the energy drink that gives you wings)
21.) Verbund (energy supplies)
22.) mobilkom austria (telecommunication)
23.) BMW Motoren (car engines)
24.) Porr (cranes and engineering for construction)
25.) voestalpine Stahl (steel)
26.) Casinos Austria (gambling)
27.) Alpine Bau (construction)
28.) Swarovski (glass for optical and decorative applications)
29.) ZEV Markant (retail)
30.) Wienerberger (brick production)
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Further Reading
Saving Money as a Tourist in Austria
Richest Real Estate Owners -
Richest People
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