Electronic components manufacturer Hon Hai Precision, better known as Foxconn, has topped the 2021 Hurun Largest Foreign and HK/Macao/Taiwan Companies in the Chinese mainland list, which was released by the Shanghai-based institute on Thursday. 

Unveiled to the public for the first time, the list includes 100 companies, ranked by their sales and number of employees in the Chinese mainland. German automaker Volkswagen took second place followed by its US counterpart General Motors. 

US consumer electronics giant Apple was ranked fourth on the list. 

The top 100 companies had a combined sales revenue of $900 billion in the Chinese mainland last year and hired more than 2.5 million employees. The majority 61 percent are consumer brands, while the rest are B2B companies. 

Automobile and auto components makers, healthcare companies, consumer goods providers and consumer electronics manufacturers account for half of the top 100.

US companies led the way, accounting for a third of the companies on the list, followed by Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. These five countries accounted for 80 percent of the top 100 companies. 

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, said these companies are perhaps "the closest thing to economic role models on how to do business in China". Ling Shanshan contributed to the story.