21.   Four giant banking companies posted better-than-expected gains for the quarter.

22.   For six years, a giant company and a Michigan entrepreneur have been battling to settle that question.

23.   Gergiev knows better than most what it takes to manage a giant company in this kind of environment.

24.   Giant companies on different continents come together as easily as neighborhood stores, and hardly a week goes by without another huge deal.

25.   Giant mainstream companies like Royal Dutch Shell and Alcoa have already instituted initiatives to scale back their corporate hierarchies.

26.   Gilead secured the financial backing and marketing power of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., a giant Swiss pharmaceutical company.

27.   However, some shop owners say their relationship with the giant company is strained.

28.   It also means mining the giant company for talent.

29.   It also illustrates the travails of reshaping a giant company after years of mismanagement in an economy whose direction has been difficult to predict.

30.   It is easy to be intimidated by these giant companies, Ms. Brown acknowledged, but investors should not ignore them.