World to see boom in big firms

The number of large companies based in emerging regions is poised to far more than triple by 2025, rising from around 2,200 today to about 7,000 in 2025. This reflects rising incomes and growing local market opportunities in these regions, as well as the fact that local companies are expanding, maturing, and reconfiguring through mergers or acquisitions, the MGI report said.

About 280 up-and-coming cities in emerging economies could host the headquarters of a large company for the first time, becoming new hubs in global industry networks, it added.

"The world's competitive landscape will be transformed over the next 10 to 15 years by the rise of a formidable new breed of large emerging-market companies," said Jonathan Woetzel, a director at MGI and one of the report's authors.

Woetzel added that the long-established dominance of Western multinationals is about to be challenged.

In addition, China will also see more small and medium-sized companies becoming large ones as the number of large companies in China is expected to increase from 800 to more than 3,400 by 2025, the report said.

Some private business owners in China are already pursuing the goal of transforming the scale of their companies from small and medium-sized to large.

For example, the effects of the growing e-commerce industry are bringing impressive results to some sectors.

Zhejiang Duoying Jewelry Co Ltd, which closed its physical shop and registered an online shop in 2012, saw its gross profit grow to 30 million yuan ($4.88 million) in 2012, twice the amount posted in 2011.

"The peak period of export trading ended in 2011 with a sharp decrease of over 30 percent on annual output from 2008 while the amount of orders also declined nearly 40 percent," said Zeng Hongqi, the general manager of Zhejiang Duoying Jewelry.

Zeng added that he aims to boost his company's profits with gradual annual growth and upgraded branding, going from the current mid-market clients to high-end customers in 10 years.

In particular, more focus will be placed on the services sector in China, as Shenzhen and Nanjing are developing as hubs for non-State controlled, medium-sized companies with a higher share of global revenue from services companies than other leading emerging-region cities such as Mumbai, India, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, said the report.