Innovation Remains Critical Throughout the Crisis
Innovation has been and will be a critical theme for global corporations. Although a McKinsey report showed that commitment to innovation declined temporarily across different industries as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, corporations are well aware that maintaining innovation focus will help them outperform post COVID.
The visual content above displays the top 50 most innovative companies of 2021, pulling data from a report based on a survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). BCG surveyed 1,600 global innovation executives, based on which it ranked companies. The report assessed companies’ performance on the following four dimensions:
- Global Mindshare: vote numbers received from all global innovation executives
- Industry Peer View: vote numbers received from a company’s own industry
- Industry Disruption: the Diversity Index of votes across industries
- Value Creation: the total share return.
Each executive rated companies both in and outside of their industry, using these four variables. So, what are some interesting findings from the rankings?
Giant Tech Led the Rankings
Unsurprisingly, six out of the top ten most innovative companies of 2021 were from the technology industry, led by Apple. Alphabet, an American conglomerate company, won the second place. Then Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla took third, fourth and fifth place. Sixth place was awarded to a Korean megacorporation, Samsung. It announced partnership with Microsoft earlier in 2020 for seamless productivity experiences across devices.
Technology and Consumer Goods/Services Are Leading Industries
While technology companies made the most of the top 10, the consumer goods and services industry also made a valiant effort in the top 50. These industries secured 16 spots or 32% of the list respectively. The least leading industry was media and telecommunication, with only two companies made the top 50. These were Disney and Comcast. Producing the first cartoons with synchronized sound back in 1928, Disney’s innovation focus keeps making magic real.
10 Healthcare Firms Made the List of the Most Innovative Companies of 2021
In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 healthcare corporates made appearances in the rankings. These companies included some of the COVID-19 vaccine suppliers: Pfizer, Jonson & Jonson, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca. Especially the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are the first mRNA vaccines approved for human use. This can be a typical case where the pandemic accelerated innovation.
The United States Was the Innovation Leader by Far
More than half of the companies are in the US. Indeed, 27 companies were American. Then China and Germany are the vice-leaders, with only five companies. Other countries that made the list were: Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Netherland, and the UK. It seems that the US has a monopoly in innovation.
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Also, it might be interesting to have a look at different rankings on the same topic: