In War and Peace: Five Corporations That Changed the World

Presented below are five global corporations that are at the forefront of serving their countries in times of war and peace.

BOEING
The American corporation Boeing is one of the largest international industrial groups, specializing in the production of aviation, space and defense technology. The corporation was founded in the early twentieth century by William Boeing. At first the business brought only losses, but the businessman did not despair.

In 1917, he received a major order for 56 aircraft from the US Army. To build the first wooden airplanes Boeing was helped by the knowledge he had gained at Yale University and things he learned in the timber business that he inherited from his father.

Currently, the Group not only produces civil and military aircraft but also helicopters, cruise missiles, satellites and communication systems. Boeing has factories around the world, but the key facilities are located in the United States — in the states of California, Washington and Missouri.

The corporation has around 170 thousand employees. The revenues for 2015 amounted to more than 96 billion dollars with a profit of 5.2 billion.

MITSUBISHI
Mitsubishi Group is one of the most powerful and the world's oldest industrial and financial corporations. In 1870, 35-year-old descendant of samurai Yataro Iwasaki founded a shipping company Tsukumo Shokai Shipping, subsequently renamed Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company.

Yataro started with the rental of three ships in Tosa, in the ship-owning company which he worked for. The famous logo was created on the basis of family coats of arms of Tosa and Iwasaki. The name Mitsubishi is translated as ‘three diamonds’.

By the beginning of the XX century sphere of interests of Mitsubishi already extended far beyond the shipbuilding industry. The company was engaged in metallurgy, oil refining, production of everyday goods, insurance, real estate and even owned a brewery.

Currently, Mitsubishi Group brings together dozens of companies producing ships, planes, cars, trucks, buses and electronics. They have assets in metallurgy and logistics and financial institutions.

Sales for Mitsubishi Motors for the first half of 2015 amounted to 8.9 billion dollars, the profit was 435 million. The aggregate turnover of all the Mitsubishi group of companies was up to 10 percent of Japan's GDP.

ROLLS-ROYCE
Rolls-Royce Company primarily is known for cars of manual assembly. The history of the famous brand began in May 1904, when in one of the luxurious restaurants of Manchester, a meeting was held between an engineer, an industrial company owner Royce ltd Henry Royce, and the owner of one of the first in Albion automotive interiors, wealthy aristocrat Charles Rolls.

Two years later, they founded a company that subsequently became famous for the exceptional quality of its vehicles.

In the early 1910s the company began producing aircraft engines. During the First World War, about half of the aircraft engines for the Entente (Russia, Britain, and France) went off the production line of Rolls Royce.

Challenging times for Rolls-Royce began in the 1970s: the financial situation was so bad that it had to be nationalized and split into two companies: Rolls-Royce Ltd specializes in aircraft engines (in 1985 renamed Rolls-Royce Plc), Rolls-Royce Motors manufactures automobiles. At the end of the 1990 Rolls-Royce Motors was bought out by the German carmaker BMW.

ROSATOM
Russian state corporation Rosatom unites about 400 enterprises — all of Russia’s civil nuclear industry, nuclear weapons complex, research institutes and the nuclear icebreaker fleet.

The forerunner of the state corporation was created in 1953. It was engaged in the development of nuclear weapons and research in the field of peaceful nuclear energy.

Currently, Rosatom ranks first in the world in number of simultaneously constructed nuclear power plants abroad and second in generating nuclear power that provides 36 percent of the world market of uranium enrichment services and 17 per cent — of nuclear fuel, according to the website of the corporation.

In the structures of Rosatom there are about 250 thousand people. The revenue of the corporation in 2014 amounted to 618 billion rubles, with orders worth more than 100 billion dollars.

URALVAGONZAVOD
Corporation Uralvagonzavod is one of the world's largest producers of tanks. It produces other military, railway and road construction equipment as well. The parent company is located in Nizhny Tagil.

In the postwar years, the company has expanded its range of civil products and in addition to cars and tanks the corporation has started to produce equipment for the aerospace industry. In the 1950-1960 tanks T-54, T-55, T-62 were developed and in subsequent years, the T-72 and T-90.

In the early 2000s, the T-90 became the bestselling main battle tank in the world. On May 9, 2015 the latest Russian Armata tank was showcased.

Uralvagonzavod has repeatedly found itself in a difficult financial situation, but the budget was regulated by the state guarantees and the increase in the volume of public procurement.