By Mitch Moxley (Shanghai Start)
Updated: 2007-09-07 06:23

Chief executives of the so-called "New Champions" - growth-hungry multinational companies, many from developing countries - are determined, globally-oriented and poised to challenge the dominance of Western multinationals, but they face challenges ahead, according to a study to be published today by Harvard Business Review and the WEF.

The report, a survey of about 100 CEOs of emerging companies, finds that the New Champions have "rushed headlong into the world market, setting up offices, hiring non-citizens, and buying companies abroad".

The companies are "trying to reshape the nature of global competition. Armed with visionary leaders, new business models, and low-cost operating bases, they've entered nearly every industry in the past five years," said the report, titled "New Champions, Global Challenges".

"They are threatening the dominance of Western multinationals," it adds.

More than half of the CEOs surveyed said their companies already offered branded products and services abroad and had formed relationships with partners targeting overseas markets. Over 73 percent had hired foreign employees and 71 percent had offices abroad - an impressive feat considering that at the turn of the century only a handful of the companies were global, the report said.

Two-thirds of executives polled said they would focus more on international markets than on domestic markets in the coming year.

But challenges lie ahead for the New Champions, and their success is far from certain, the report noted.

Nearly one-third of CEOs surveyed said their biggest challenge is finding seasoned executives that can sail a company through global waters. Almost 14 percent said delivering world-class quality was their biggest hurdle, while 14 percent said identifying the needs of foreign customers remained a challenge.

(Shanghai Start 09/07/2007 page2)