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For immediate release

Best Companies for Leadership encourage innovation for growth and sustainability Samsung, Toyota and Unilever top the leadership rankings in Asia

SINGAPORE, August 31, 2012 – Hay Group, the global management consulting firm, today released

its seventh annual Best Companies for Leadership Study, identifying the global Top 20 and Asia‘s Top

10 best companies for leadership and examining how those companies 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 (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Global Top 20 Best Companies for Leadership (2011)

1. General Electric 11. Toyota

2. Procter & Gamble 12. Nestlé

3. IBM 13. 3M

4. Microsoft 14. Southwest Airlines

5. Coca-Cola 15. Exxon Mobil

6. McDonald‘s 16. PepsiCo

7. Accenture 17. Siemens

8. Wal-Mart Stores 18. Shell

9. Johnson & Johnson 19. Dow Chemical

10. Unilever 20. FedEx

Over in Asia, Samsung Group, Toyota Motors and Unilever led the region‘s rankings (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Asia Top 10 Best Companies for Leadership (2011)

1. Samsung Group 6. IBM

2. Toyota Motors 7. Sony Corporation

3. Unilever 8. Proctor & Gamble

4. Nestlé 9. The Coca-Cola Company

5. Tata Group 10. PETRONAS

Hay Group 10 Hoe Chiang Road #04-03/05 Keppel Towers Singapore 089315 T: + 65 6323 1668 www.haygroup.com/sg 2

According to Hay Group‘s study, the Best Companies for Leadership (BCL) create workplace

environments and processes that enable innovation to thrive.

Nearly all of the Asia Top 10 companies (90 per cent) reported that their leaders regularly celebrate

innovation, compared to just 59 per cent of other companies.

In addition, 84 per cent of the Asia Top 10 companies reported that ideas from subsidiaries are just as

likely to be implemented as those from headquarters, compared to only 63 per cent of other companies.

Mr Andrew How, Managing Director, Hay Group, said, ―In Asia, there is a keen hunger to capitalise on

the abundant business opportunities. The Best Companies for Leadership recognise that innovation is

key to their future growth and sustainability in a fiercely competitive global market.

―Innovation is highly prized by many companies but the Best Companies for Leadership approach it in

a disciplined way by building agile organisations, promoting collaboration, and celebrating successes.‖

Innovation revolution

When it comes to innovation, Hay Group‘s study also found that the companies in the Asia Top 10 are

driven by future customer needs and not just serving the current ones.

In fact, 90 per cent of them report that employees — not just managers and leaders — are constantly

discussing customers‘ future needs, compared to just 56 per cent of other Asian companies.

When faced with difficulties, Asia‘s Top 10 are willing to postpone short-term profits in order to

continue investing in innovation (71 per cent) and treat negative feedback and performance difficulties

as learning opportunities (77 per cent), compared to 53 per cent and 56 per cent respectively in other

Asian companies.

Mr How observed, ―The ability to translate future trends into new product offerings has kept Asia‘s

best ahead of their competition. The willingness to bite the bullet now by putting off short-term gains

so as to continue innovation investment is their hallmark.

―In fact, Asia‘s Top 10 (71 per cent) do better in this aspect than even their global Top 20 peers (65 per

cent). Coupled with their organisational resilience, this enables them to bounce back quickly from set-

backs. The Asia‘s Top 10 are a force to be reckoned with.‖

Hay Group 10 Hoe Chiang Road #04-03/05 Keppel Towers Singapore 089315 T: + 65 6323 1668 www.haygroup.com/sg 3

Global best practices

However, Mr How warned that Asian companies should not rest on their laurels as they have much to

learn from the Global Top 20 companies in the following areas:

Develop an organisational structure that enables quick communication. This is fundamental to

organisational agility, its decision-making frameworks and responsiveness to market changes.

The Asian tradition of directive leadership will not work to foster innovation. Everyone must be

expected to lead, even if they have no formal position of authority, and Asian bosses must learn

to delegate their authority and decision-making power.

Create personally meaningful work. Having an innovation strategy is no guarantee of success,

and the most innovative companies are interested in discretionary effort. Therefore, strategies

must be decoded vertically and horizontally so that personal interests are aligned with corporate

and inter-departmental goals.

Mr How said, ―Innovation is a necessity to thrive in an uncertain business environment of rapid and

irrevocable change. Building discipline around innovation has become just as, if not more important,

than innovation itself. And innovating leadership is perhaps the most critical step to survival.‖

Abandon “proof” mindset

According to Dr Andreas Raharso, Director, Hay Group‘s Global Research Centre for Strategy

Execution, in order to execute innovation, leaders must also abandon the ―proof‖ mindset which

requires an idea to be tried and tested.

Dr Raharso said, ―You will never get proof for innovation in the first place because it has not been tried

and tested.‖

He added, ―If Singapore companies want to be more innovative, they need to balance the current

―must-win‖ culture with ―being comfortable with failure‖.

―We must also move from focusing individual achievement to promoting collaboration. In today‘s

complex business environment, no one person can single-handedly bring an innovation from an idea to

the finished product/service that customers buy.‖

Hay Group‘s Asia report, Leadership reloaded: Innovating in the next decade, is available on

http://goo.gl/KbDxr.

Hay Group 10 Hoe Chiang Road #04-03/05 Keppel Towers Singapore 089315 T: + 65 6323 1668 www.haygroup.com/sg 4

For further information:

For more information on Hay Group‘s Best Companies for Leadership, please visit the microsite at

http://www.haygroup.com/BestCompaniesForLeadership, or join the conversation on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/hay_group.

Note to editors:

This press release should be credited to ‗global management consultancy Hay Group‘, and not ‗Hay‘ or

‗Hays‘, which are separate and unrelated organisations.

About Hay Group’s Best Companies for Leadership Study:

Hay Group has researched the Best Companies for Leadership since 2005. This year‘s survey includes

responses from nearly 7,000 individuals at more than 2,300 organisations worldwide. The survey was

based on the organisation‘s response to an online questionnaire and peer nominations.

Respondents that completed the survey were from 103 countries, with 11 per cent from North America,

35 per cent from Europe, two per cent from the Middle East, 21 per cent from Asia/Pacific/Africa and

31 per cent from Latin America. To see the Top 20 list from 2005 through 2011, please visit the Best

Companies for Leadership microsite at http://www.haygroup.com/BestCompaniesForLeadership.

About Hay Group:

Hay Group is a global consulting firm that works with leaders to transform strategy into reality. We

develop talent, organise people to be more effective, and motivate them to perform at their best. With

85 offices in 48 countries, we work with over 7,000 clients across the world. Our clients are from the

private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, across every major industry and represent diverse business

challenges. Our focus is on making change happen and helping people and organisations realise their

potential. Visit www.haygroup.com/sg.

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