Unlocking New Sources of Value Creation

Unlocking New Sources of Value Creation is the fifteenth annual report in the Value Creators series published by The Boston Consulting Group. Each year, we offer commentary on trends in the global economy and world capital markets, share BCG’s latest research and thinking on value creation, describe our experiences working with clients to materially improve their value-creation performance, and publish detailed empirical rankings of the performance of the world’s top value creators.

This year’s report offers four different perspectives on successful value creation. We begin by analyzing the recent disconnect between uneven global economic growth and buoyant global equity markets. Next, we describe how senior executives can use value patterns, a concept we introduced in last year’s report, to identify the most appropriate “unlocks” to create new value. We follow with a detailed case study of how one BCG client, the branded apparel company VF, has used a focus on total shareholder return to transform the company’s business, accelerate its growth to the point that today it is the world’s largest apparel company, and deliver shareholder value at the top end of its peer group. Finally, we conclude with our annual rankings of the top ten value creators worldwide and in 25 industries for the five-year period from 2008 through 2012.