2017 Superaccelerators: 25 Companies Outpacing Their Competition

- For 2017, Heidrick & Struggles again applies its Superaccelerator tests on the 500 most highly valued companies in the world

- 25 companies meet all Superaccelerator criteria, including 11 newly recognized organizations  

- 16 U.S. companies named; 5 from China among 9 Asian Superaccelerators

- Super-Accelerator: one of the top-performing, fastest-growing large companies in the world

CHICAGO, June 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII), a premier provider of executive search, leadership consulting and culture shaping worldwide, today released its 2017 list of "superaccelerators"—among the world's largest companies, those that are outperforming their competitors by moving with speed and agility.    

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"These 25 superaccelerator companies consistently achieve top-tier revenue growth with impressive, sustained profitability," said Colin Price, Executive Vice President and Global Managing Partner, Leadership Consulting at Heidrick & Struggles. "Sustained top- and bottom-line success in an uncertain, disruptive world requires acceleration—that is, the ability to adapt and pivot faster than their competitors."

Price is co-author along with Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Consulting Partner Sharon Toye of the book, Accelerating performance: How to mobilize, execute, and transform with agility that debuted this past January in Davos, Switzerland, site of the World Economic Forum annual meeting. The book included the inaugural list of 23 superaccelerator companies and focused on factors that enable them to move quickly and decisively, speeding past competitors.

"The majority of competitive differentiation occurs when companies make sense of changes in their environment and react in a timely manner," Price says. "Actions that must be accomplished with speed and agility include exploiting new sources of growth as well as sustaining the source of today's competitive advantage—in other words playing both offense and defense."

The list of 25 superaccelerators for 2017 includes 11 new entries along with 14 that also made the original list of superaccelerators in 2016, underscoring the leadership challenges associated with achieving—and maintaining—high levels of performance.

The United States again dominated the superaccelerator list with 16 companies. China has five superaccelerators in 2017 (four from mainland China and one from Hong Kong), up from two a year ago. In all, Asia is represented by nine superaccelerators; Europe has none this year.

Notably, the superaccelerators come from a variety of industries. "As capital has become ever more global, liquid and informed, we see that creative ideas and nimble execution can succeed in a wide range of markets and industries," Price said.

2017 Superaccelerators (ranked by market capitalization as of March 31, 2017; asterisk indicates company was also on 2016 Superaccelerators list):

To qualify as a superaccelerator, a company must pass four "rules of 20." Among the 500 companies with the highest market capitalizations in the world, they must:

• Be in the top 20% for revenue growth, both in the past three and the past seven years,
• Have generated no more than 20% of their growth inorganically (through acquisition),
• Received no more than 20% of their revenue from their home government (eliminating state-supported enterprises),
• Have not seen their profit margin reduced by more than 20% as a percentage of revenue as they grew in scale.

For Price's article "What does it take to be a 'superaccelerator'?" which includes last year's original list of superaccelerators, click here or go to http://bit.ly/2qjH2qg.

About Heidrick & Struggles:
Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII) serves the executive talent and leadership needs of the world's top organizations as a premier provider of leadership consulting, culture shaping and senior-level executive search services. Heidrick & Struggles pioneered the profession of executive search more than 60 years ago. Today, the firm serves as a trusted advisor, providing integrated leadership solutions and helping its clients change the world, one leadership team at a time. www.heidrick.com.

Contact:
Jon Harmon +1 312.496.1593
jharmon@heidrick.com

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