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US tops the super growth company league table for third year
a.. 56% decrease in number of super growth companies in India
a.. significant change in country league table rankings
a.. globalisation a greater opportunity for super growth companies.
The US tops the Grant Thornton International Super Growth Index for the
third year running. 44% of US companies hit ‘super growth1’ status, an
increase of 5% over the previous year. The Index measures the country
with the highest proportion of "super growth" companies.
This year Armenia (38%) has replaced India in second position. Indian
companies suffered a dramatic drop to 14th in the table as the country’s
proportion of super growth companies halved from 34% to 15%. Ireland has
maintained a top five ranking (29%; No.3) and is joined by the UK
(26%/No.4) and South Africa (25%; No.5), up from tenth position last
year.
Other significant climbers in the Super Growth Index include Russia
which has moved from 29th to 18th in the rankings; the Philippines from
23rd to 8th; Argentina from 27th to 15th; Italy from 30th to 21st.
Hong Kong – the other strong performer in 2006 at third place, has
fallen out of the top ten this year – coming in at number 11. Other
fallers in the chart include Malaysia from 8th to 26th and New Zealand
from 15th to 28th – its worst performance in four years.
The Super Growth Index 2007, now in its fourth year, is a unique
research project which forms part of the Grant Thornton International
Business Report (IBR). The report covers the opinions of 7,200 privately
held businesses in 32 countries and represents 81% of global GDP.
A ‘super growth’ company is one which has grown considerably more than
the average measured against key indicators including turnover and
employment.
Said, Alex MacBeath global leader of privately held business services
for Grant Thornton International, "The most significant finding from
this year’s survey is how two of last year’s strongest performers, India
and Hong Kong have fallen so considerably in the table. We expected
continued strong performance and maybe that one of them would possibly
take top spot this year. However, the US continues to defy predictions
and has not only retained the top slot but consolidated their position
by a further 5%. It is also very interesting to see Russia and the
Philippines jump from 29th to 18th and 23rd to 8th respectively."
When percentages of super growth companies year on year are compared, it
is interesting to see that economies such as Hong Kong and India have
fallen from 34% to 18% and 34% to 15% respectively. While the
Philippines (7% to 21%) and Russia (4% – 14%) have both grown
considerably.
MacBeath continued, "We should not necessarily consider that a drop in
the number of super growth companies is a bad thing for an individual
economy. Growth in employee numbers and turnover can only realistically
be expected to grow rapidly for a limited time before responsible
businesses take stock and review their growth strategies. What we might
be seeing now is a consolidation in Hong Kong and India with those super
growth businesses of the last few years perhaps concentrating on
profitability rather than simply on high levels of growth.
"Conversely, businesses in the Philippines and Russia could be
considered as being in a different stage of their economic expansion
with growth in employee numbers and turnover a component element of
their emergence as global economies."
Trends
a.. 63% of super growth companies believe globalisation presents
more of an opportunity for their company, compared with 55% of all
businesses in the survey
a.. super growth companies say the availability of a skilled
workforce is considered to be a greater constraint than for companies in
general (44% compared with 36%)
a.. red tape and regulation is another major concern for one in
three (32%) super growth companies
a.. super growth companies are considerably less constrained in
their ability to raise long-term finance with just 13% quoting this as a
problem compared with 21% of companies overall.