Articles

25.1.2011 New challenger brands emerge

A new generation of brand owners from emerging markets are becoming "credible contenders" to lead their industries at the international level, the Boston Consulting Group has argued. The firm identified 100 "rising stars"that should collectively deliver $8tr in revenue by 2020, and half of which could enter the Fortune Global 500 in just five years. An analysis of 57 "global challengers" where information was available showed their sales rose 18% annually from 2000 to 2009, measured against 6% for the 393 non-financial members of the S&P 500 Index. These results were achieved alongside higher margins than the norm, greater dividends and at least comparable debt-to-equity rations.

Foreign acquisitions have proved a key strategy for the "rising stars", having conducted 71% of cross-border deals in mature markets during the two years following the onset of the recession, and 58% in the 24 months before that. India's Tata Group owns the Jaguar and Land Rover auto marques, China's Huawei and ZTE are in the top five telecoms equipment specialists and Mexico's Grupo Bimbo is the world's biggest bread manufacturer. This selection of corporations featured in similar previous research by the Boston Consulting Group, as did well-known players like the IT titan Lenovo, business services giant Infosys and air carrier Emirates.

New entrants to the list included Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel, boasting 200m subsribers in 19 nations, and securing $8.8bn in revenues across its last fiscal year. Carmaker Geely, which purchased Volvo from Ford for $1.8bn, joined rivals such as BYD Group and Chery Automobile in the rankings. Chile's LAN Airlines is active in five countries, while Mexico's Mabe, Latin America's largest home appliance provider, has partnered with General Electric to reach overseas.

B.L. 25.1.2011