If the leaders of big companies were cricketers, they would be expected to be all-rounders in the class of Jacques Kallis. Often they have to bat, bowl and field at least as competently as the specialists, and occasionally they find themselves keeping score, making the tea and playing politician and psychologist as well.
Last year, in discussing the companies in the SA Giants section, we pointed out that there was a formidable and possibly unique multiple challenge for SA's senior executives: grow the business and make it ever more productive, while overcoming the challenges presented by governance, globalisation and (peculiar to the SA business environment) black economic empowerment. That complex challenge is still in place, but it's becoming clear that it's not just the major corporates that need to be such competent all-rounders. It's anyone that wants to play the game.
Many of our business and financial leaders are demonstrating, by most or all of the relevant measures, that they are truly world-class. The best of them have a perspective beyond their own business or sector, and take seriously their role in the zone where business activity intersects with politics, macroeconomics and social imperatives.
But that doesn't stop them defending the interests of their own businesses or sector whenever they can - and indeed it can be argued that they have a duty to do so.
So we have heard many bitter attacks from miners and other exporters on the strong rand, as if R14/US$ were part of the natural order of things. Dark muttering is heard about the Reserve Bank's "strong rand" policy and warnings (often accurate) are delivered about the effect on jobs.
Importers, on the other hand, are enabled by a stronger currency to spend less, without improving anything about the way they operate. Depending on what business they are in, they can simply look good because their costs drop - or they have the challenge (as with some electronic goods, for example) of having to drive sales volumes vigorously to compensate for the lower prices that the market obliges them to charge.
Some companies, like Sasol, can simultaneously gain and lose as the currency interacts in a complex cocktail with the oil price, so there are often peculiar balancing acts to be managed.
Every week we are bombarded with arguments on a range of issues. Interest rates should be lower, to bring us in line with our trading partners - but they will rise towards the end of the year because of fears of inflation. Commodity prices will surge - unless the Chinese economy overheats. Inflation will be kept under control - unless of course the oil price rises on Middle East tension.
Just as such factors are constantly changing, so do the fortunes of a business. It is always going to be artificial to try to freeze the business environment at a particular point. A week in business, as in politics, can be a long time.
But the FM's annual Top Companies is founded on the need to stand back from the fray, to take stock of what companies have been doing. It's not simple. Reporting periods vary considerably, and there are different measures for different things, so no single table of names in this survey gives the final answer as to which is the best company in SA. But when all the information is taken together, we believe a view can be formed by investors. Here they have access to rankings, but also to the numbers that influence the rankings.
This is where we see how well executives have been driving performance, against the particular advantages or difficulties they may have in a sector. Top Companies is not about strategies, policies and regulations. It is, we believe, an accessible and independent analysis of what companies have actually done. And it offers a broad context, beyond particular sectoral interests, against which performance can be judged.
