McGraw-Hill: One of the Most Influential Entities in the Financial Industry

McGraw-Hill Financial, Inc. is a publicly traded financial institution that offers publishing, financial and business services. The business was created in 1917 and is now a billion dollar venture with revenue of more than $4.9 billion.

McGraw-Hill is best known for being the parent business of Platts, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw Hill Construction and the Standard & Poor’s. The holding company is also the majority stakeholder of the S&P Dow Jones Indices venture. Its companies are known as institutions in the financial industry and has very influence on how businesses run. The operations of the company are categorized into four segments basing it on the market they are engaged in: Standard & Poor’s, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices and its Commercial and Commodities Market.

Of its businesses, the S&P Dow Jones Indices is probably one of the most influential. It has global coverage and is listed as the world’s largest global resource for research, data and index-based concepts. It serves as the backbone of all the world’s indexed assets. It produces the world’s famous Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. There are about 830,000 indices that the company calculates.

The business started out in 1888 when its founder James H. McGraw, purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances. He then put up The McGraw Publishing Company in 1899 after acquiring several other publications. This publishing unit of the conglomerate works closely with the McGraw-Hill Education company. The name McGraw-Hill Publishing changed its brand name to The McGraw-Hill Companies to reflect corporate-rebranding of the business in 1995. It eventually changed its corporate name to McGraw-Hill Financial in 2013.

McGraw-Hill is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MHFI. It is also listed as a major component of the S&P 500.

Mettler-Toledo: Precision of Measurements

Scales and analytical instruments are the expertise of Mettler-Toledo, a global manufacturing company based in Greifensee, Switzerland. The products of the business are marketed under the name Mettler Toledo (without the dash).

The company specializes in scientific instruments that are used by professionals. Their products and services are most helpful in the chemical, food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. These items are used for scientific research, drug discovery and quality control. There are several business segments that the company operates across Europe and in North America. Through the scientific instruments manufactured by Mettler-Toledo, we are able to administer precisely measured medicines, weigh the exact volume of ingredients and purchase the right amount of food.

The manufacturing facilities of the company are located in the United States, in China and in Europe. Their products are marketed in over 36 countries through their global sales offices and service organizations. The business was created in 1989 after two companies: Metter (Switzerland) and Toledo Scale (USA) merged.

McKesson Corporation: The Preferred Partner of America’s Healthcare Systems

Among the first businesses in the United States to make use of the bar-code technology and RFID tagging system in distributing their goods is McKesson Corporation. The business thrives in the pharmaceutical industry and is listed as the 14th largest business in the country based on the annual revenue it generates. During their 2013 fiscal year, the company was able to generate more than $122.45 billion.

This American company is headquartered in New York City and is engaged in the distribution of pharmaceutical products at a retail sales level. They also provide medical supplies, care management tools and health information technology. Considered as one of the oldest continually operating ventures in the country, McKesson doesn’t just operate within the United States as they also have offices in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom.

In 1833, the company kicked off as a distributor of botanical drugs. The business started out as Olcott & McKesson after its founders Charles Olcott and John McKesson. Daniel Robbins joined the venture and after the death of Olcott, the company changed its corporate name to McKesson & Robbins in 1853. Through acquisitions and merger of businesses, the company eventually dropped the name of Robbins and made a fresh corporate image under the name McKesson Corporation.

The largest chunk of the sales of the enterprise is derived from its technology business arm. The McKesson Provider Technologies is the retail name of its software development division. 50% of the healthcare systems in the United States rely on the services provided by the business. They provide web-based cardiac imaging, information management solutions and other digital image technology and reporting useful in the healthcare system. Health Mart is the name of the chain of pharmacies that the company wholly operates. There are about 3,400 stores that are part of the Health Mart network.

Orbital Sciences Corporation: Big Leap for Small and Medium Spacecrafts and Rockets

Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company that designs, manufactures and launches small and medium-class spacecrafts and rockets systems. Its products are used by commercial as well as civil governments and military forces. It is based in Dulles, Virginia. Its stocks are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Among the leading products of Orbital are satellites and launch vehicles. Among these products are the geosynchronous-Earth orbit and low-Earth orbit, including planetary spacecrafts used for scientific and defense missions, remote sensing and communications. Orbital also produces both ground-launched and air-launched rockets that send satellites into orbit; and missile defense systems that intercept or target vehicles.

David Thompson, Bruce Ferguson and Scott Webster were students at Harvard Business School when they founded Orbital in 1982. Three years into its operations, Orbital procured its first major contract: the supply of four Transfer Orbital Stage vehicles for NASA which planted the seeds for the ORBCOMM constellation.