Home business Innovation, leadership main factors behind top companies' success: study

The Nation June 4, 2012 1:00 am

Hay Group, a global management consulting firm, has released its seventh annual "Best Companies for Leadership Study", identifying the top 20 global and top 10 Asian companies for leadership and examining how they nurture talent and foster innovation in their ranks. This year, General Electric topped the global list, followed by Procter & Gamble, IBM, Microsoft and Coca-Cola. Here in Asia, Samsung Group, Toyota Motor and Unilever led the ranking.

According to Hay Group's study, the Best Companies for Leadership (BCL) create workplace environments and processes that enable innovation to thrive. In fact, 90 per cent of the Asia's top 10 companies reported that their leaders regularly celebrated innovation, compared with just 59 per cent of other companies. In addition, 84 per cent of Asia's top 10 companies reported that ideas from subsidiaries were just as likely to be implemented as those from headquarters, compared with only 63 per cent of other companies.

"In Asia, there is a keen hunger to capitalise on the abundant business opportunities," said Mohinish Sinha, leadership and talent practice leader for Hay Group Asean, India, Pacific and Africa and co-author of the BCL Asia report. "The Best Companies for Leadership recognise innovation is key to their future growth and sustainability in a fiercely competitive global market.

"Many companies prize innovation, but the Best Companies for Leadership approach it in a disciplined way by building agile organisations, promoting collaboration, and celebrating successes."

The global top 20 Best Companies for Leadership are GE, P&G, IBM, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Accenture, Wal-Mart Stores, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Toyota, Nestle, 3M, Southwest Airlines, ExxonMobil, PepsiCo, Siemens, Shell, Dow Chemical, and FedEx.

Asia's BCL top 10 are Samsung, Toyota, Unilever, Nestle, Tata Group, IBM, Sony, P&G, Coca-Cola, and Petronas.

"There are plenty of ideas that we could learn from the best companies in driving a culture of innovation," said Thachasha Phuangpornsri, leadership and talent practice leader, Thailand. "Innovation does not happen by chance any more; the highlight this year indicates that best companies focus on promoting an environment that encourages meaningful innovations throughout the organisation. This is seen as a crucial way to survive and drive their market leadership."

--Innovation revolution

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Innovation, leadership main factors behind top companies' success: study