Topic: Wii are... uhhh, Nintendo is #1! Earns title of World's Best Company!

[BlackNMild2k1]

The World's Best Companies

World's Best Companies 2009
The 40 names making the list, compiled by A.T. Kearney for BusinessWeek, are thriving in the recession and preparing for beyond

Any athlete will tell you that the time to train is in dismal weather, not on perfect, sun-drenched days. If you want to excel at the best of times, it seems, you need to be prepared for the worst.

Companies are little different. So as the economic outlook brightens, those that have worked hard to survive the tough times of the past year are best prepared to seize new opportunities. It is these enterprises that have risen to the top of the World's Best Companies/Global Top 40 list, compiled for BusinessWeek by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

What are some traits of the World's Best Companies? A commitment to innovation, diversified portfolios, aggressive expansion, strong leadership, and a clear vision for the future. "In an environment of continuous disruptive change, companies that have rigorous strategic planning initiatives that allow them to see over the horizon…are far more likely to win than those that make it up as they go along," says Paul Laudicina, chairman of A.T. Kearney.

To create the list, A.T. Kearney examined the 2,500 largest publicly listed companies in the world. Kearney's team singled out those with a minimum of $10 billion in sales in 2008, at least 25% of which came from outside the company's home region. It then ranked the companies on their sales growth and value creation—the rise of market capitalization after subtracting any increase in capital—over the past five years. This year, the list expanded to 40 companies from the 25 Kearney ranked in the past.

Thriving Industries
The top 40 come from 18 countries and industries ranging from chemicals and contracting to software and shipbuilding. But three groups stand out. There are six technology and telecommunications enterprises that have tapped into continuing demand for mobile-phone service and new digital hardware and services. The eight heavy-industry and engineering outfits performed well as infrastructure spending started to bounce back. Finally, companies in sectors tied to the commodities boom of recent years have in many cases continued to prosper, though their ranks have been thinned considerably.

Japanese electronics maker Nintendo (7974.T) claims the No. 1 spot this year. Its sales have risen 36% annually over the past five years, while its value growth averaged 38%. Despite the hard times of the past year, Nintendo's continued emphasis on innovation has helped the company develop must-haves such as the DS handheld game machine and the Wii console, which outsold rival offerings from Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT). Nintendo's strategy is emblematic of the tech companies on the list. Like Nintendo, American technology giants Google (GOOG) (No. 2), Apple (AAPL) (No. 3), and Amazon.com (AMZN) (No. 17) have continued to invest heavily in innovation, commanding large market share with new products even as consumer spending and confidence have declined sharply. Telecom companies MTN (No. 7) and América Móvil (AMX) (No.18)

[Stogi]

Third party conspiracy proven?

/thread

[NWR_insanolord]

Most of the people here could have told you Nintendo was the world's best company before this and as far as I know none of them are even business experts.

[KDR_11k]

Take that, Apple!

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Third party conspiracy proven?

/thread

It's not a conspiracy.  It's their daily routine.

[EasyCure]

Third party conspiracy proven?

/thread

It's not a conspiracy.  It's their only reality.

fixed

[Ian Sane]

As someone who is quite displeased with Nintendo's current practices this is not encouraging.  They aren't going to change a damn thing if they're the number one company in the world.  I can't think of anything worse than this for making an arrogant company think they're indestructible.  With no incentive to improve things will never get better and will likely get worse.

[Stogi]

Really?

May I suggest something?

[GoldenPhoenix]

Thankfully most people don't think like Ian (Which is funny considering he bought a system from one of the most arrogant companies for over a decade). So go Nintendo.

[Peachylala]

snip

You can never be pleased, so abandon the so-called sinking ship already.

Remember that these so called bad practices are what gave us Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and Wii Sports Resort.

Thankfully most people don't think like Ian (Which is funny considering he bought a system from one of the most arrogant companies for over a decade). So go Nintendo.

CAN WE HAVE A SNARKY PRO 666 COMMENT NAO PLZ?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

If Ian doesn't waste time, he could trade in his Wii system and games for lots of credit towards a PSP Go and the new portable Gran Turismo title.  This is an unbeatable value from a game company Ian can trust.

[Caterkiller]

As someone who is quite displeased with Nintendo's current practices this is not encouraging.  They aren't going to change a damn thing if they're the number one company in the world.  I can't think of anything worse than this for making an arrogant company think they're indestructible.  With no incentive to improve things will never get better and will likely get worse.

Come on Ian, I understand where you are coming from, but havn't we listened to Iwata and Reggie say things to the affect of "it's not enough to be on top, and once you get to the top the only way to go is down" ? Remember those comments? I'm saying I doubt Nintendo is going to just let things sit, and we know they are working on some super awesome games. Yes it's lame we had a big nintendo droubt for a super long time now, and Nintendo probably expected more 3rd parties to take charge, but with all the cool stuff coming there is no way things like this will let them sit fat and happy in their kings chair.

If anything I think this is great for the world to see, a positive take on Nintendo. Rather then the usual motion controls are crap and wii is less powerful than a watch or something.

Pluss all this extra money they are making will surely go to the development of ultra awesome games. Whether they be games like Resort or Other M doesn't matter. You can bet there will be plenty of each.

[Deguello]

I remember when Ian wrote gigantic posts about how Nintendo should try to appeal to the mainstream consumer and stop making video games and ads where you "already have to be a gamer" to understand either.

[EasyCure]

I remember when Ian wrote gigantic posts about how Nintendo should try to appeal to the mainstream consumer and stop making video games and ads where you "already have to be a gamer" to understand either.

Yeah.. like the "who are you" ad compaign..

LOL

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I remember when Ian wrote gigantic posts about how Nintendo should try to appeal to the mainstream consumer and stop making video games and ads where you "already have to be a gamer" to understand either.

Laffo, mainstream consumer.  I don't think he understood what that was at that time.  Next he'll say the definition was different then and now, and how Nintendo only caters to some magickal "new" audience.

[NWR_insanolord]

Remember, it's not arrogant to act like you're the greatest in the whole world if you actually are.

[Pale]

Remember, it's not arrogant to act like you're the greatest in the whole world if you actually are.

Regardless of whether they are being arrogant or having an opinion of themselves exactly on par with what they actually are... modesty is still the preferred trait to have in my opinion.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I don't see where Nintendo has been all that arrogant in their statements, Iwata has been relatively humble. Yeah they are pleased for to be so successful but you don't hear anything on par with "The next generation doesn't start until we say it does".

[BlackNMild2k1]

Remember, it's not arrogant to act like you're the greatest in the whole world if you actually are.

Regardless of whether they are being arrogant or having an opinion of themselves exactly on par with what they actually are... modesty is still the preferred trait to have in my opinion.

True, but I still don't see the arrogance from Nintendo. Maybe it's just me though.

edit: Apparently me and GP agree

[Pale]

In an effort to not beat a dead horse...

Nintendo gives the impression of complacency right now.  Now, all of us have our hopes set on all of the hidden things they have in development, which I'm sure they do have, but aside from that, they have always been a "if it's not broke don't fix it" sort of company.

I have a lot of (admittedly nitpicky) issues with the Wii as a platform which plenty of other people share.  We all know the big ones... storage, friend codes, tying games to consoles instead of a personal account, etc.

I'm not sure Nintendo would classify any of those as "broke" and I worry that means they won't fix them.  To some, that "ignoring of facts" could be seen as arrogance.

I have to admit that I miss the days of the third place GameCube.  At least then we knew Nintendo had to shock us (which they did) and we were still getting our great first party titles.

I don't expect Wii 2 to be any more than a remote with motion sensing capabilities incrementally better than Motion+ and HD graphics.  I have a hard time getting excited over an incremental console upgrade, and that's kind of sad.

Here's to hoping I'm wrong. 

[King of Twitch]

Nintendo is number 1, stop whining

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well Nintendo has a pretty good holiday this year with some promising 3rd party games plus a brand new Mario platformer. We all should know that the big Nintendo teams are working on something, and in a way the fact that Nintendo can afford to take a couple steps back from rushing releases give them more time to create. The Gamecube era was one where most Nintendo games lacked polish and seemed rushed out the door, even if they were still great like SMS or Wind Waker. Nintendo is being conservative, and I'm not sure that is necessarily arrogant but being more picky about what they commit resources to.

[D_Average]

I hope they never change!  GCN Animal Crossing was all I wanted last xmas and DS I mean Wii New Super Mario Bros is all I want this year!  Things couldn't be better!

[EasyCure]

I hope they never change!  GCN Animal Crossing was all I wanted last xmas and DS I mean Wii New Super Mario Bros is all I want this year!  Things couldn't be better!

Sure they can, they can be HD right?

Can't we get a temp-ban or something?

[GoldenPhoenix]

I hope they never change!  GCN Animal Crossing was all I wanted last xmas and DS I mean Wii New Super Mario Bros is all I want this year!  Things couldn't be better!

All I want for Christmas is Halo: Spinoff of The Same and Uncharted: The Same 2, things couldn't be better.