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Thursday February 9, 2012

The World's Best Companies

A commitment to innovation, diversified portfolios, aggressive expansion, strong leadership, and a clear vision for the future—these are just some of the strategies employed by the best companies to get to the top of the World's Best Companies/Global Top 40 list compiled for BusinessWeek by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Two groups stand out: technology and telecommunications companies that have tapped into continuing demand for mobile-phone service and new digital hardware and services, and heavy industry and engineering outfits benefiting from the uptick in infrastructure spending. Have a look at the numbers behind the companies on this list.

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DATA: A.T. Kearney, Thomson Reuters METHODOLOGY: To create the list, Kearney first calculates the median value growth rate--the rise of market capitalization after subtracting any increase in capital--and the sales growth rate for approximately 2,500 of the largest publicly listed companies around the world. Kearney then only considers those companies with 2008 sales greater than $10 billion, with at least 25% derived from outside their home region. In addition to having positive value growth, the companies on the list also have above average (median) sales growth.