Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled
financial or
business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". The concept first arose in a symbolic sense after 1880 in connection with the combination movement that began in American
business at that time. United States corporations that fall into the category of "big business" include
ExxonMobil,
Wal-Mart,
Google,
Microsoft,
Apple,
General Electric,
General Motors,
Citigroup,
Goldman Sachs and
JPMorgan Chase. The largest German corporations included
Daimler AG,
Deutsche Telekom,
Siemens and
Deutsche Bank. Among the largest companies in the United Kingdom are
HSBC,
Barclays,
WPP plc and
BP. The latter half of the 19th century saw more technological advances and corporate growth in additional sectors, such as
petroleum,
machinery,
chemicals, and
electrical equipment. (See
Second Industrial Revolution.)