Company Awards 2003

The Banker magazine launches its Company Awards in this edition, ashowcase of exceptional companies across the world. More than 500invitations to enter the awards were sent to companies in 35 countries.A strict prerequisite for selection was that companies had to enter tobe considered, a system designed to ensure legitimacy and transparency.By making assessments on the basis of a standardised entry form only,it was possible to compare like with like and make evaluations acrossindustries and sectors. The key criteria for consideration were historical financialperformance; adoption and impact of new technology; potential forrevenue and profit growth in the home market or globally; andgovernance and corporate social responsibility. The multi-disciplinary selection panel made a qualitative assessment toidentify companies that had an extra “edge”, either investing in newtechnologies or implementing bold or innovative strategies to grow. Theobjective was to find companies that are financially sound with thepotential to grow significantly in the future. The final element was tobalance rapid growth with sustainability and good corporate governance.The end result is 29 companies in 29 different countries (in the caseof six countries, an award was not made because the quality ofresponses was not up to standard). Ahead you will see familiar namesand some not so familiar, all are high profile companies in theirrespective markets.