M'sia ranks high in the world for visionary companies

KUALA LUMPUR: An international study on visionary organizations, conducted by international consultancy firm &samhoud, shows that Malaysian organizations lead the world in creating inspiring corporate visions, and in the implementation of those corporate vision throughout all layers of the company.

Managers worldwide indicate that the effects of a vision-driven organization include a clarity of targets, the growth of customer satisfaction and creativity, and a greater focus on performance.

The global study was conducted amongst 3,000 managers from The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, USA, China, India, and Malaysia.

According to the respondents, Malaysia has the highest percentage of organizations with an inspiring corporate vision (82%), the USA is in the middle (58%) and the Netherlands comes last (36%).

The research identified a common phenomenon across developed countries and emerging markets. 90% of the leaders surveyed believed that a corporate vision is more important now than ever before.

In Malaysia, especially, leaders are truly convinced of the motivational power of a corporate vision.

Nur Hamurcu, Managing Partner of &samhoud Asia, states: "A corporate vision is not a poster on the wall or the booklet in a drawer, but forms the DNA which is the corporate identity."

Ninety-six percent of Malaysian leaders surveyed across 15 industries confirmed that their company had a corporate vision, and 82% agreed or strongly agreed that 'Most organizations in our country have an inspiring vision'.

Countries in highly developed economies such as the USA, Germany and the Netherlands scored lower at 58%, 48% and 36%, respectively.

The majority of the leaders agreed that their corporate vision led to a clarification of the company's goals, growth in revenue and profit, higher customer satisfaction, as well as inspiring staff, promoting unity and improving sense of belonging.

According to Malaysian principals, the top 5 Malaysian companies with the most inspiring visions are: PETRONAS, Sime Darby, AirAsia, Celcom and Maybank.

The international research also revealed that corporate visions in Asia are implemented in daily practice, with more discipline.

However, the qualitative feedback reveals the top five reasons why corporate vision implementation fails.

1) Leaders do not walk the talk

2) Rapid changes at the top

3) Employees are not emotionally connected due to poor communication

4) Inconsistently applied to organizational practices

5) Failure to include the four key elements: its higher purpose, the audacious goal, core values and core qualities.

Whilst Malaysian companies are on the right track; in terms of financial performance, and employee and customer satisfaction, they perform below their full potential, primarily due to the five reasons above.

In summary, Hamurcu also remarked: "Business leaders should focus on both living the corporate vision everyday and aligning the corporate vision to the brand promise." - BERNAMA