BMW, Nokia, Pfizer: Positioned for the future

March 5, 2002 - BMW, Nokia, and Pfizer were ranked most competitively fit firms in a study released today. The report titled The Competitive Fitness of Global Firms 2002 is an INSEAD study, published by Pearson Education in London. It analyzes and ranks the top North American and European firms across eight business sectors by a composite rating Overall Market Effectiveness Capability (OMEC).

The analysis includes responses from 1,225 executives working in 55 different countries. OMEC results range from a low of 46 to a high of 82 where both BMW and Nokia rated. Pfizer rated an impressive 79 in 2002, its fourth consecutive year in the study. Unlike other business surveys, corporate competitive fitness information comes directly from firm executives - not third-party evaluators. Therefore, this study provides a snapshot of a firm from an internal vantage point.

Only 86 firms, out of the 326 that were covered, achieved a rating over the World Class level with enough data points. The eight business sectors were: Automobiles & Automotive, Computers & Electronics, Consumer Goods, Engineering & Machinery, Finance & Insurance, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Process Industries, and Services.

While participant names are kept confidential, executives close to the study have had positive reactions about the results. "Extremely interesting to compare company positions per sector and activity," one consumer goods executive said. Another executive in the services sector referring to the assessment aspect of the preliminary results report, "We are into benchmarking so this is timely for us."

BMW
Amidst a series of events that yielded negative impacts on many firms in 2001, BMW experienced its most successful fiscal year. The company plans to continue growth by increasing capacities (Technical Resources) worldwide. Management also stresses a market offensive approach as they make plans to support the sales volume projections over the next six years. These efforts will most likely impact several of the steering and action oriented capabilities in the coming years.

Nokia
The technology sector has been one of the hardest hit with the slowdowns in 2001 but Nokia has remained committed to products and execution. Nokia has always focused on strong innovation and brand strategies. On the international front Nokia remains committed to the Asia Pacific region.

Pfizer
Pfizer has shown solid achievement in the past four years of this study - rating above the level of World Class. Pfizer demonstrates high competitive fitness and dominates all 12 capabilities within its sector with capability ratings well above the overall average.

The above capability plots are just a fraction of the results included in The Competitive Fitness of Global Firms report.

About The Competitive Fitness of Global Firms Report
This report publishes results of an annual study conducted by Professor Jean-Claude Larreche, at INSEAD business school. The study ranks top North American and European firms based on fundamental business capabilities based on a survey of top managers from those firms. The capabilities measured are: Mission & Vision, Customer Orientation, Corporate Culture, Organization & Systems, Planning & Intelligence, Human Resources, Technical Resources, Innovation, Market Strategy, Marketing Operations, International, Performance and E-Business. Out of the 326 firms covered, a total of 86 firms achieved above a World-Class rating for 2002 with BMW, Nokia, and Pfizer ranking as the "best". For more information and results of the study, visit: www.corvaltec.com.