Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores tops the Fortune 500 list for the second consecutive year with a 2007 profit of $12.73 billion on revenues of $378.8 billion. That's a jump of 7.9% in revenue over 2006. Wal-mart may not be able to maintain its No.1 ranking next year, because Exxon Mobil was only just behind in revenues and way ahead in profits in this year's list. Factor in the drop in retail spending in 2008 along with the spike in the price of oil, and you can say for sure that Exxon Mobil will be way ahead of Wal-mart next year, in both revenue and profit.

Here's the full list of the top Fortune 1000 companies. The top 10 companies on the list are Wal-Mart Stores, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, General Motors, ConocoPhillips, General Electric, Ford Motor, Citigroup, Bank of America Corp., and AT&T. Goldman Sachs clocks in at No. 20.

The top industry remains real estate, in terms of growth in revenues of 29.9%. No biggie that its no where in the list of best investments. There's a truckload of data here and even more ways that you can slice and dice it and analyze the Fortune listings. You can see and read more here, here and here.

But the one I find most interesting is the commentary on the secret of enduring corporate greatness by Jim Collins, Fortune Magazine. Bear Stearns disappeared over a weekend, after more than eight decades of growth to No. 156 on the Fortune 500. Fifty-four of the Fortune 500 posted losses totaling $115 billion in 2007, an amount equal to the entire revenue base of more than 20 Fortune 500 companies. In the early 1970s, Ames Department Stores and Wal-Mart looked like identical twins. They had the exact same business model of rural discount retailing. In the early 1970s, Ames Department Stores and Wal-Mart looked like identical twins. They had the exact same business model of rural discount retailing. Wal-Mart retained focus on small towns before making an evolution into urban sites; Ames revolutionized itself overnight into urban retailing and catapulted itself into decline. Wal-Mart created its own success, and Ames caused its own death.

I'd add the ability to anticipate macro-trends while maintaining flexibility to the business model to incorporate these trends - Without affecting bottomlines - as one of the biggest reasons of longevity. That's the only way a company can keep moving along with siesmic shifts. Wal-mart went green just ahead of the curve in 2006 powered by CEO Lee Scott's 'green campaign', and stacked shelves with things like organic food, which was only just starting to catch national attention at that time. Today, organic food is an obsession on the coasts, and its just catching on in the heartland. The possibilities are endless for Wal-mart. Now if you look at the Detroit auto companies, they're way behind the curve on hybrids and fuel efficiency standards, as compared to global manufacturers. The price of gas at the pumps has now turned hybrids from a feel-good thing into a necessity, and Detroit is no shape whatsoever to fulfill that demand. End result is that Detroit is dying because everyone wants to live green, while Wal-mart is able to tap into that same upswell to further pad its already deep pockets.

On another level, Wal-mart has been vilified for years and all but indicted for making employees work on minimal benifits, if any, in order to reduce costs for consumers. Detroit, on the other hand, still pays handsome health care benefits (GM recently offloaded this onto the UAW) and passes on the tab to the consumer. I'm not trying to defend Wal-mart here. Just stating the facts - Which are that most Americans will have no employer paid benefits within 10 years. End result here is that Wal-mart was able to survive a surge in health care costs and the ravages of globalization with a flood of cheap imports, while the auto companies continue to haggle with UAW over who is expected to take a hit even as Asian auto giants pull the rug out from under them.

Facing reality and making hard decisions is never popular, but it makes shareholders happy, and gets you on the top of the Fortune 500 list.