Most Admired Companies: A new world order

Most Admired Companies: A new world order By Geoff Colvin, senior editor at large


FORTUNE -- Now that the skies are clearing after the worst economic storm in modern history -- far more violent than the experts had predicted -- we face a surprising new roster of winners and losers, as our 2011 ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies makes clear.

Stress in the recession and financial crisis brought out traits that may not have been noticed when the sailing was smooth. Upstarts became champions. Famed competitors fell behind; some didn't make it through the storm. The findings of our latest survey show a new competitive order in many industries and in business generally, one that will probably last years. How the winners won and the losers lost holds lessons of value for everyone.

The tumult is the greatest we've seen in 13 years of ranking the World's Most Admired. Of the 57 industries studied, 22 are led by new companies this year, the largest proportion ever. The changed order of the business world is particularly evident from another perspective -- our respondents' views about who are the best at critical business abilities. The recession changed global opinion thoroughly.

How did the new class of champions do it? The answer, distilled from the stories of dozens of companies in varied industries worldwide, is that through good times and bad they dared to differ from how most competitors were behaving.

In the boom years most of today's leaders were financially conservative, shunning the fad for borrowing wildly and refusing to make acquisitions at high prices that may have seemed reasonable during the expansion. They knew that when times inevitably turned bad, the burdens of heavy debt and expensive takeovers could be deadly.

Then, once the recession hit, they again ran counter to trend. Exactly how they did it depended on their situation. McKinsey research shows that in the tech industry, for example, companies that are industry leaders before recessions and stay leaders afterward actually increase headcount and increase spending during the downturn. They press their advantage when others are weakest.

Companies that go into the recession as laggards but emerge as leaders move strongly the other way -- they make cuts in those categories, cutting far more deeply than other players. It's the timid, conventional majority in the middle, neither bulking up nor scaling back dramatically, but rather cutting just enough to get through, that come out of recessions the worst.

The economic storm is passing. All the world's major economies grew last year and are forecast to grow this year and next, says the World Bank. You might reason that winning in today's environment demands a different strategy from what's needed to win in a gale.

The large lesson from the World's Most Admired Companies is that the leaders managed in the boom so that they could dominate in the bust, and that's when the great reordering happened. The new champions demonstrated a truth that's important to remember as more benign conditions, with luck, return: Good times may be when you make the most money -- but bad times may be your greatest opportunity. To top of page

7 things to know before the bell
Right Now

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Key to NBA's success? Embracing tech
NBA Commissioner David Stern says the basketball league is looking to expand its use of technology to improve gameplay and increase its audience. Play
Selling Roy Rogers' former ranch
With 67 acres of land and room for 150 horses, the former ranch of the 'King of the Cowboys' sold at auction for $640,000. Play
Track testing tires to find the best
Find out how TireRack tests and reviews tires and why choosing the right ones for your car is so important. Play
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
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.