Influential Companies December 11, 2008, 5:00PM EST

The World's Most Influential Companies

(page 2 of 2)

Emiliano Ponzi

A company's ability to exert power beyond its own people often reflects the strength of its relationships. Roger Martin, dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, notes that "influence today is about how sophisticated, how broad your network is." Facebook may not yet make much money, he argues, but it's creating a new way for companies to reach customers. Wal-Mart (WMT), meanwhile, is leveraging its ties with Chinese suppliers to exert influence over mainland environmental practices. While its motivation may be as much about saving costs as saving the planet, that initiative could help the retailer leave its biggest imprint yet.

The influence of talent farms—companies revered as much for their management bench as for their products—could be changing, too. Whether it was marketing savvy at Procter & Gamble (PG) or the "Get me a CEO from GE!" refrain of the 1990s, certain companies have been deified for their management skills. But University of Michigan professor C.K. Prahalad argues that the assumed superiority of such alumni hasn't always been borne out. The entrepreneurial cultures at Home Depot (HD) and 3M (MMM) struggled under the rigorous management systems brought in by GE veterans Bob Nardelli and Jim McNerney. Best practices don't always travel well. Poaching from marquee names "was perfectly legitimate when everybody used to run similar manufacturing-oriented, cost-oriented businesses," says Prahalad. With today's need for innovation, he says, it's the "unique person you want to look at, not necessarily whether he had this or that experience at P&G."

Don't conclude that influence today is more ephemeral or harder to measure than in decades past. Strip away the fast-moving trends, the flip-flops in consumer behavior, and influence still comes down to what Munich-based strategy consultant Roland Berger sums up as "impact on society." In the 1950s that meant shaping the needs of a swelling consumer culture. In the decades since, influential companies built everything from air travel infrastructure to the information highway. Today, the best are trying to serve a global customer base while finding profitable ways to solve a range of societal ills. It's a daunting mission at a time when the world seems overwhelmed. Those who tackle it, however, may wield influence for a generation. And, perhaps, for even more than 100 years.

Slide Show: The World's Most Influential Companies

Business Exchange related topics:
Toyota
Apple
Google
Customer Experience

McGregor is BusinessWeek's management editor.

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