There was a time when the world was coming to grasp the power that China had in manufacturing because of the sheer workforce size and all the other economic conditions that made it a favorable business environment. Today, China’s not the only Asian country taking over the business world. Last year, Forbes published their Global 2000 list which had 672 companies from Asia. That’s more than 25%.
I thought I’d take a look into some of the larger companies in from this list and the impact they’re making globally. The first 5 Asian companies were all Chinese so I picked the top 3 from different Asian countries. Let’s see the power that ICBC (China), Toyota (Japan) and Samsung Electronics (Korea) have.
ICBC
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd is very powerful for such a young company. Created in 1984, it’s #1 in the entire Global 2000 list and has a powerful $166.8 B in sales. The banking sector in China is doing fabulously primarily because of the incredible growth that their business clients have fortunately seen. If you do a search on the news regarding ICBC, it revolves all around the business side of the bank with little “fluff” on management or corporate culture. One way to look at this is to believe that they do nothing but focus on their business. The other way to look at it is to wonder if they need to create some waves regarding corporate culture when they can play such a pivotal role as thought leaders in Asia.
Toyota
The first non-Chinese company which comes in at #11 on Global 2000 is Toyota. As we all know, it’s an established Japanese company born way back in 1937 with sales at $252.2 B. As the top company in the automobile manufacturing company, it’s no surprise that they’ve got an innovative culture. This is seen in action when an adviser to Toyota encourages employees to ask Five Why’s, where everyone asks themselves at least 5 times why something succeeded or failed. Though everyone points fingers and follows the troubles a company faces after going through recalls, very few appreciate the effects and efforts it takes in a company’s corporate culture to right the issues.
Samsung Electronics
Coming in at #18 on Global 2000, this powerhouse Korean company has a proud sales figure of 195.9 B. Created in 1969, Samsung’s range of lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, chips, flash memories and hard drives has hooked large corporate clients including Apple, Sony, HTC and Nokia. With Jay Y. Lee getting ready to take over the Samsung empire from his father, we’ll be seeing oodles of case studies on how to manage succession change. Personally, I not only admire the 46 year old for (hopefully) having the skills for managing this corporate giant but I can’t wait to see how corporate culture changes when the reigns are transferred between two generations.
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From ICBC, we know that focusing on your core business is the best way to expand. Toyota teaches us that innovation is necessary no matter how set in our ways we are. And Samsung is going to show us how leadership change from one generation to another will affect organizational culture. It’s an awesome world we live in – one with endless learning opportunities. Get tips and lessons to navigate your company through its journey by subscribing to the blog.