Corporate Leadership in a Globalizing Equity Market

Executive Overview Long constrained by their national boundaries, institutional investors are discovering an outside world of higher returns and lower risks. Company executives are also learning that foreign investors are able to provide more capital at lower cost. The globalization of equity markets is a product of the 1990s. Governments are opening their markets to foreign investors; investors are diversifying their portfolios; and companies are scouting for new holders. In response, firms are restructuring their operations to enhance shareholder return, redefining management relations with foreign shareholders, and revising management compensation to align with global investor interests. Company executives are mastering new leadership skills for operating in an environment increasingly defined by a relatively small number of large international stockholders. This entails above all delivering a compelling strategy story for sharevalue growth to stock analysts and money managers worldwide.