Multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble has been named world’s best company in terms of leadership followed by General Electric and Coca-Cola in the second and third place respectively, as per a Hay Group study. The global management consulting firm released its ninth annual “Best Companies for Leadership” Study and the Top 20 list on the basis of “how these companies build and promote the development of great leaders”.

Others in the top 10 list include IBM in the fourth place, followed by Unilever (5th), Intel (6th), McDonald’s (7th), Samsung (8th), 3M (9th) and Hewlett-Packard (10th). The top 20 best companies for leadership also include PepsiCo (11th), Toyota (12th), Accenture (13th), Siemens (14th), Telefonica (15th), BASF (16th), Johnson & Johnson (17th), Citigroup (18th), IKEA (19th) and Pfizer (20th).

Hay Group has researched the Best Companies for Leadership since 2005. This year’s survey includes responses from nearly 18,000 employees at more than 2,100 organizations worldwide, which means that on average only eight employees have evaluated their company. Apart from this flaw, it might be interesting to also gain responses from other stakeholder groups rather than merely from employees. The survey was based on the organization’s response to an online questionnaire and peer nominations. Respondents who completed the survey were from 115 countries, with 6 percent from North America, 35 percent from Europe, 2 percent from the Middle East/Africa, 27 percent from Asia/Pacific and 29 percent from Latin America.

P&G and General Electric have been among the Top 5 since the inception of the list in 2005. Although the vast majority (91%) of respondents are from Europe, Asia and Latin America (compared to only 6% from the US), the Top 20 list is dominated by US-based companies. Only two Asian (Toyota and Samsung), but no Latin American companies entered the list. Also not present among the Top 20: firms from the UK, France or Switzerland. Remarkable: Despite their huge brand awareness and employer attractiveness, IT giants such as Google, Apple or Facebook are obviously not seen as companies that excel in their leadership structures.

According to this year’s survey, the Best Companies for Leadership take a determined and disciplined approach to help leaders develop and rise within their organizations. A key finding from this year’s study was that 80 percent of the Top 20 companies had established clear career paths for their employees, compared to only 48 percent of all other companies. Similarly, 80 percent of the Top 20 were well ahead of their peer groups by providing career development experiences for their organization’s highest potentials, ensuring the company has the right people with the right skills when needed to fill their most critical roles. Among the top 20 companies, flexibility to respond to economic changes was identified as a top challenge for leaders over the next 12 months, along with the ability to capitalize on opportunities within emerging markets, the report said.

Summarizing, “Best Companies for Leadership” is a useful ranking to gauge and compare the leadership structure and status of individual companies. As the ranking is the 9th time in row, comparisons and developments over time are possible. However, the ranking results only provide general information. For real insights on their individual situation, companies need to purchase Hay Group’s benchmark reports.

You can read the full report here.