IBM, Citi, and AT&T, Inc. take top honors in the first comprehensive ranking of S&P 500 companies that best use their time, talent and resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business. The Civic 50 was prepared by The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) and Points of Light, national experts on civic engagement in partnership with Bloomberg LP. It features a comprehensive, transparent methodology to identify companies that have taken a leadership role in developing and implementing civic engagement programs. The list is intended to raise awareness of the importance of a civic consciousness through the U.S. corporate world.
Companies were evaluated on seven specific metrics: leadership, measurement and strategy, design, employee civic growth, community partnerships, cause alignment and transparency. Winning companies employed increasingly sophisticated tools to measure the impact of community engagement and alignment of these programs with their business’ core competencies. More than two-thirds of the top 50 companies say they “frequently” or “always” use the professional skills of their workforce to address social issues and real community challenges. Sixty-six percent of the top 50 say they have “mission-level” alignment with the community partners, meaning they work with them on the highest strategic level, not just on individual programs or events.
The companies recognized in the inaugural Civic 50 contributed a remarkable amount of time and resources to improve the communities they serve. For example, the top five companies alone provide $1.5 billion in grant support to community organizations, 17.5 million volunteer hours valued at over $375 million, and $150 million in matching donations.
The full list of winners can be found online at Businessweek.com. Here are the top ten:
The single-largest business opportunity in Africa will be its rising consumer market. A new McKinsey report offers a detailed profile of African consumers, including their demographics, behavior, and needs.
The continent’s consumer-facing industries are expected to grow by $400 billion, representing its single-largest business opportunity, by 2020. In one of the first studies of its kind, McKinsey’s Africa Consumer Insights Center surveyed 13,000 consumers in ten African countries, with a focus on the largest cities. Five categories of consumption were covered: apparel, financial services, groceries, the Internet, and telecommunications.
Here are some highlights from the research.
Source: McKinsey & Company
A new report by The Conference Board and McKinsey & Company concludes that human capital professionals are struggling to meet the needs of an-ever changing global business landscape. Specifically, as global markets and technology evolve, “people processes are failing to keep pace”. The authors go on to report that “while tremendous strides have been made over the past decade in areas like workplace diversity and flexibility, the human capital function has largely lagged behind in effecting organizational success. As a consequence, human capital leaders must work harder — and smarter — to cement their place as a key business partner on decisions central to the present and future success of their organizations”.
The State of Human Capital 2012 report examines four specific opportunities that HC executives must seize if they are to effectively manage the global talent pool in an unpredictable business environment. These include:
With many human capital departments today paralyzed in the face of seemingly monumental challenges — such as accelerating leadership development, acquiring talent, and retaining key players in a world of constant change across borders, cultures and challenges — the report offers a way forward. Based on a survey of hundreds of practitioners as well as focus groups with senior leaders in human capital around the world, the report offers an overview of the current state of the human capital function, key strategies and approaches executives can implement immediately to reach the summit.
Source: The Conference Board, McKinsey & Company
China’s 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) emphasizes the “human factor” in economic development more than any previous FYP. As such, the plan is important from a human capital strategy and planning perspective. A special briefing paper from the Conference Board’s China Center distills out the plan’s implications for human capital practitioners and executives concerned about human capital issues in China.
Some of the many key takeaways outlined in the report are:
The report also summarizes and enumerates the key data points, targets, and projections in the FYP related to human capital, providing a concise and easy-to-use reference resource
Source: The Conference Board
By 2030 more than one-half of the world’s GDP will be generated in what are currently classified as “emerging markets.”
In a new study of its membership base, CEB (previously the Corporate Executive Board) examined the leadership challenge of this intensifying reconfiguration of the global business marketplace. It found that 60% of its member companies plan on significantly increasing their global footprint during the next three years but that a lack of globally capable leaders was likely to become a significant impediment to growth and sustaining success.
In the study CEB analyzed the business performance of more than 12,000 senior global leaders at 90 companies and discovered a striking difference between businesses with what it termed “Great Global Leaders”—those who can successfully operate across multiple and diverse geographies—and those without. It reports that Great Global Leaders are almost three times more likely than their peers to be guiding a business that is achieving its performance objectives three years in a row. “Unfortunately, Great Global Leaders are rare, as fewer than one in five senior leaders in the organizations surveyed qualify as Great Global Leaders. Without an adequate pipeline of effective global leaders, most organizations will struggle to be successful—and many will ultimately fail,” the study concludes.
We are told that “understandably” organizations are rethinking, retooling, and (in some cases) reinventing their leadership development programs to create more and better leaders. Yet the review of organizations’ strategies for strengthening their global leader pipeline shows that most approaches are “deeply flawed”. CEB report that some organizations “mistakenly” assume global leadership is the same as other forms of leadership and produce leaders who lack the special skills required for cross-market management. “Others make the opposite mistake”—assuming global leadership is an entirely unique set of skills and capabilities— “producing leaders with profiles inconsistent with the organization’s overall leadership needs.” The survey found that the best companies build Great Global Leaders by striking a balance between these two extremes—identifying, improving, and building leaders’ important core skills and capabilities while also enabling them to be more effective in complex global environments.
Key findings include:
Source: CEB
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