Redefining High Performance

Global business has entered a new era of fluid market and industry boundaries, shifting regional risk and opportunity, changing formulas for economic value, and varied economic shocks. To help companies prosper in this environment, Accenture has recently launched a high‐performance business initiative designed to identify the most successful companies in 18 of today's largest industries along with the key value drivers in those industries. The performance criteria for such companies include a combination of market‐based indicators (specifically, shareholder returns measured over three‐, five‐, and seven‐year time periods) and oper‐ating measures (notably, revenue growth and the spread between total return to shareholders and the weighted average cost of capital). Further analysis of the chosen companies suggests that they are distinguished by a number of common capabilities: ▪ an alert perception of customer values, allowing for quick detection of major shifts in demand or environmental conditions; ▪ an organization‐wide ability to take decisive action based on a combination of high‐quality hard information and “soft intelligence”; ▪ a complete understanding of the firm's core competencies and how they can be maintained and lever‐aged to drive current and future value; ▪ a willingness to explore value‐adding partnerships and alliances, including the outsourcing of non‐core activities; and ▪ the ability to meet near‐term goals while investing heavily in the future.