BAT Sole Malaysian Firm in Asia Pacific Leadership List

Source from:  Business Times (Malaysia) 02/02/2010

MALAYSIA has only one company, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd (4162), on the list of top Asia Pacific firms recognised for leadership development based on a Hewitt Associates biannual study. In the top 12, five companies are from India, two each from China and New Zealand, and one each from Australia and Singapore. India's ICICI Bank Ltd ranked first while IBM topped the list of 25 companies in the 2009 Global Top Companies for Leaders. Global human resources services firm Hewitt and its survey partners - The RBL Group and Fortune - undertook the comprehensive study last year to gauge talent management and leadership practices around the world. In the 2007 study, Sunway Holdings Bhd was the only Malaysian company in the Asia Pacific list. Hewitt regional director (Asia Pacific) Smita Anand said the study, held at the height of the global economic downturn, found that at top companies, key leadership and talent programmes were not abandoned. Instead, these companies focused on small and selective investments in building leadership capability. "We found that companies were more cost-conscious but they did not stop executing the leadership plans," she told Business Times. At top companies, leaders are dedicated to the development of talent and building a pipeline of leaders. The companies' leadership programmes, which are relevant, practical and executable, are parallel with their business goals. At top companies, the development of leaders is institutionalised, where for leaders, it is a way of behaving that is woven into every aspects of the business such as decision-making and growth strategy. Cigarette maker BAT said its resilience in difficult times was due to to its leadership development plans. Human resource director Cheryl Wong said BAT's staff turnover is 8.4 per cent compared with the consumer industry average of 8.6 per cent. She said from the 8.4 per cent staff turnover, almost 2 per cent is managed attrition, meaning those who left were the non-performing staff. Enditem