Ayala firms dominate FEER survey

Ayala companies dominated the most recent Review 200, the Far Eastern Economic Review’s annual survey that seeks to gauge readers’ perceptions of companies in the region.

Rated on the basis of five categories drawn up by the regional publication, holding company Ayala Corp. ranked highest for long-term vision while Bank of the Philippine Islands topped the financial soundness category, followed by Ayala Corp. Globe Telecom was also judged second in the category: innovative in responding to customer needs. The other categories included high quality services/products and companies that others try to emulate. Ayala placed third in these areas.

Overall, Ayala Corp. was rated second in business leadership in the Philippines following Jollibee Foods in the keenly awaited survey. Third place went to San Miguel Corp. while BPI ranked fourth. ABS-CBN Broadcasting ranked fifth followed by Globe at sixth.

More than 15,000 executives professionals from 11 countries in the region who are readers of FEER or partner publications like the Asian Wall Street Journal participated in the exercise. Most of them are 49 years and above and are either chief executive officers or chief financial officers of their own organizations. The survey was conducted by AC Nielsen International Research (Hong Kong).

By garnering top slots in Review 200, Ayala Corp. joined the ranks of other regional business leaders also cited namely: Toyota Motor of Japan, Singapore Airlines, Samsung Electronics, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Indofood, Petronas, Siam Cement, Sony, Hutchison Whampoa, Woolworths and Qantas Airways.

FEER noted that growth around the region "is plodding along at its slowest pace since the Asian crisis." It observed that telecommunications-equipment makers seem to have been most displaced by the downturn.

Readers were also asked to rank multinational companies with marked presence in Asia. They chose Microsoft as the leading organization, followed by General Electric, Nokia, McDonald’s and IBM.

In the Philippines, Jollibee was singled out for having "persistently edged out better-known competitors such as McDonald’s and Burger King… with sweet-tasting bugers." Globe was cited as a "concession to the future," this being its first year to make a showing in the survey.

Microsoft and Nokia were named the "two-best regarded foreign companies, underscoring the depth to which the Philippines has embraced new technology."