Roar of the East being heard

French carmaker Renault and the Dongfeng Motor Group are already in talks about forming a joint venture which Zhu says is likely to have a similar effect on both companies as the Geely deal.

According to the Fortune Global 500 estimates, between now and 2025, the number of global companies with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion will rise from 8,000 to 15,000.

Most of the new companies will be from emerging markets, a lot of them Chinese.

"The rise of emerging economies has presented multinational corporations with unprecedented market opportunities and the ability to tap into an increasingly skilled labor force," says a recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute entitled Urban World: The Shifting Global Business Landscape.

"But a related shift is just beginning to gather force that it has the potential to redraw the world's business map and rewrite the rule book on global corporate competition.

"Emerging regions are not just a collection of new markets or a source of cheap — and increasingly skilled — labor. They are also giving rise to thousands of new companies that are quickly reaching significant scale — and changing competitive business dynamics around the world."

The report warns that business leaders need to have a better understanding of this evolution so that they can prepare for the new wave of emerging competitors.

Roland Hinterkoerner, head of corporate advisory for RBS Asia, says the 7,000 new global corporations suggested by the McKinsey report is a lot, but he is not sure if they will dominate.

"I expect a lot of them will be from Asia … mostly Chinese. Even so, the numbers are an eye-opener to the future corporate landscape," he says.

"We have seen similar (reports) in the past but from different perspectives. However, if you look at what is happening in the corporate world today, it comes as no surprise that companies, especially from China, will become a significant force globally."

McKinsey describes the changing roster of the Fortune Global 500 as a "vivid illustration" of the growing trend.

"Between 1980 and 2000, the share of companies on the list based outside developed regions stayed relatively flat, at 5 percent. By 2010, this share was up to 17 percent of the total. It has climbed further to reach 26 percent in 2013," McKinsey said in its report.

"Based on projected growth by region, we expect the emerging world to account for more than 45 percent of the Fortune Global 500 by 2025. We also anticipate that roughly 120 of the names on the 2025 list will be based in the China region."