DBS, Netflix, Alibaba among top 20 firms globally that have successfully transformed their business: Study

SINGAPORE — DBS was named among the top 20 companies globally that have pulled off a major transformation of their business, alongside Netflix, Amazon and Alibaba, in a study by strategy consulting firm Innosight.

The study screened the companies listed in the S&P 500 stock market index and Forbes’ Global 2000 to identify 20 firms that have undertaken “strategic transformation”, defined as “adapting a core business to disruptive change while also creating new growth around new products, services or business models”.

This is the second time that Innosight has conducted the survey. In its 2017 edition, 10 businesses were shortlisted and there were no Singapore companies named.

Described as the “Transformation 20”, the firms were selected because they fulfilled the following criteria:

The extent to which the company has been successful at creating new products, services, markets and new business models.

How effectively has the company adapted its traditional core business to changes or disruptions in the markets, giving its legacy business new life.

Whether the company has posted a strong financial and stock market performance or if it has turned around its business from losses or slow growth to get it back on track.

It also looked at the following metrics: The new growth areas as a percentage of the total business and the firms’ stock combined annual growth rate since the base year of transformation.

DBS Bank ranked 10 among the 20 firms that were shortlisted for the study.

In the study, Innosight said the bank was chosen as it had seized digital opportunities via new platforms and business models.

It added that the key to DBS’ success was “not just going digital” but “opening up a digital platform that others can play on (and) taking part of the playbook from companies like Apple, Adobe and Amazon”.

DBS’ chief data transformation officer Paul Cobban said: “For DBS Bank, the transformation has been along many dimensions, from a national bank to a regional and global bank, and from traditional banking services to new kinds of fintech business models. But the common denominator to all these efforts has been building new digital platforms”.

The panel of five judges for the study include management professor at Columbia Business School Rita McGrath, chair of the Economic Development Board Beh Swan Gin and professor of strategy at INSEAD business school Nathan Furr.