UPFRONT It’s Super-Company!

The percentage of fast growing companies in New Zealand has doubled in the past year but at 13 percent we still lag well behind the United States which topped the 2005 table with 48 percent of companies tagged as fitting the “super growth” model.
We’re now sitting alongside Sweden, which topped Grant Thornton International’s Super Growth Index last year (with 24 percent) but has since dropped back into the middle ranks, and Japan which bounced up from two percent ranking. Countries above the 20 percent mark include Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and India; languishing at the bottom of the table are Russia (two percent) and Turkey (one percent).
“Super-growth” companies are those that have grown considerably more than average on indicators such as absolute and percentage growth in turnover and employment – which applies to 17 percent of all medium-sized companies surveyed worldwide.
The exceptional performance by US companies reflects the vigorous growth in that country’s economy over the past year, notes Grant Thornton New Zealand spokesperson Peter Sherwin. While it’s encouraging to see local businesses improving their position, the test will come as companies deal with current lower business confidence and more challenging economic conditions, he says.
Characteristics of super-growth companies include greater optimism around their expectations for turnover, profitability and employment. They are also typically less constrained by issues such as cost of finance, shortage of working capital and shortage of long-term finance.
They’re also more focused on employment-related issues, says Sherwin.
“There are clear lessons here. Be positive, look after your people and get the business appropriately funded – then you have great platform to build and deliver your strategy.”