25 top companies for leaders

These are the global businesses that are tops in attracting, retaining and nurturing talent.

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By Beth Kowitt and Kim Thai, reporters

(Fortune magazine) -- Most large companies love to talk about developing strong leaders. But when it comes down to it, many of them don't know how to turn their words into action. So Fortune teamed with human resources consultants Hewitt Associates and the RBL Group to find out which companies do it best.

The names that top our list, like IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) and Procter & Gamble (PG, Fortune 500), have gone beyond the basics of grooming strong leaders and have come up with new ways to test their employees in the global marketplace.

To create the ranking, we surveyed more than 500 global companies in search of the top businesses at attracting, retaining, and nurturing talent. After several rounds of analysis and interviews, we turned to a team of respected judges from around the world to help select the final list.

The results highlight the top 25 global companies for developing leaders. We also rank companies within four geographic regions. The companies that made the cut have one thing in common: They know that investing in their employees isn't a luxury -- it's a necessity. To top of page


The Rankings
Rank Company HQ Revenue Employees CEO
1 IBM Armonk, NY $103.6 billion 398,455 Samuel Palmisano
2 Procter & Gamble Cincinnati $79 billion* 135,000 Bob McDonald
3 General Mills Minneapolis $14.7 billion* 30,000 Ken Powell
4 McKinsey None More than $5 billion*** 17,000 Dominic Barton
5 ICICI Bank Mumbai $47.4 billion* 36,335 Chanda Kochhar
6 McDonald's Oak Brook, Ill. $23.5 billion 1.4 million Jim Skinner
7 General Electric Fairfield, Conn. $182.5 billion 300,000 Jeff Immelt
8 Titan Cement Athens $2.3 billion 6,063 Dimitri Papalexopoulos
9 China Mobile Communications Corp. - Shanghai Shanghai $2.5 billion 7,919 Jie Zheng
10 Hindustan Unilever Mumbai $4.4 billion** 15,000 Nitin Paranjpe
11 Natura Cosméticos Cajamar, Brazil $1.6 billion 5,700 Alessandro Carlucci
12 Colgate Palmolive New York City $15.3 billion 36,600 Ian Cook
13 TNT Hoofddrop, Netherlands $16.5 billion 152,000 Peter Bakker
14 Deere & Company Moline, Ill. $28.4 billion 56,000 Samuel Allen
15 Whirlpool Benton Harbor, Mich. $18.9 billion 70,000 Jeff M. Fettig
16 3M St. Paul $25 billion 75,000 George Buckley
17 Cargill Minneapolis $116.6 billion* 159,000 Greg Page
18 Olam Singapore $8.9 billion* 10,000 Sunny Verghese
19 Eli Lilly Indianapolis $20.4 billion 40,800 John C. Lechleiter
20 PepsiCo Purchase, NY $43 billion 198,000 Indra K. Nooyi
21 American Express New York City $28.4 billion 59,200 Ken Chenault
22 Lockheed Martin Bethesda, MD $42.7 billion 140,000 Robert J. Stevens
23 Intel Santa Clara, Calif. $37.6 billion 80,800 Paul Otellini
24 Infosys Bangalore, India $4.6 billion* 105,000 S. Gopalakrishnan
25 Fedex Memphis $35.5 billion* 275,000 Fred Smith
Footnotes: *Companies that have reported 2009 fiscal year revenue. All other revenue is for 2008.
**Revenue for 15-month period from January 2008 through March 2009 due to change in accounting year.
***Fortune estimate; the Company does not disclose revenue.
1. IBM, information technology
2. Procter & Gamble, consumer products
3. General Mills, food consumer products
4. McKinsey, consulting
5. McDonald’s, food services
6. General Electric, diversified financials
7. Colgate-Palmolive, consumer products
8. Deere, industrial and farm equipment
9. Whirlpool, appliances
10. 3M, diversified manufacturer
11. Cargill, food production
12. Target, general merchandiser
13. Eli Lilly, pharmaceuticals
14. PepsiCo, food manufacturer
15. American Express, diversified financials
16. Lockheed Martin, defense
17. Intel, semiconductors
18. DaVita, health care
19. FedEx, mail, package, and freight delivery
20. Sonoco Products, packaging
21. Cummins, engine manufacturer
22. VF, apparel
23. Capital One Financial, diversified financials
24. Hewlett-Packard, information technology
25. Raytheon, defense
1. ICICI Bank, financial services
2. China Mobile Communications–Shanghai, telecom
3. TCL, telecom and electronics manufacturer
4. Hindustan Unilever, consumer products
5. Olam International, agriculture
6. Aditya Birla Group, diversified holdings
7. Lion Nathan, beverages
8. Infosys Technologies, information technology
9. New Zealand Refining, petroleum refining
10. Wipro, information technology
11. TrustPower, energy
12. British American Tobacco, tobacco
1. Titan Cement, building materials
2. TNT, mail, package, and freight delivery
3. Man Group, auto manufacturer
4. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, financial
5. Micro Focus International, info technology
1. Natura Cosméticos, personal care
2. Bancolombia, financial services
3. WEG Equipamentos Elétricos, diversified manufacturer
4. CPFL Energia, energy
5. Wal-Mart de México, general merchandiser
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
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