Rory L Chase, managing director of Teleos, unveils the winners of this year's European Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises study, and highlights the trends that have emerged from this year's study. 

Teleos, in association with The KNOW Network, has announced the winners of the 9th European Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) study.

A panel of European-based Fortune Global 500 senior executives and internationally recognised experts (knowledge management, intellectual capital, innovation, organisational learning) selected the winners. Only organisations founded and headquartered in Europe were eligible for this MAKE study. The panel rated organisations against the MAKE framework of eight key knowledge performance dimensions - visible drivers of competitive advantage and increased value and performance:

• Creating an enterprise knowledge-driven culture
• Developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership
• Innovation (R&D, creativity and new product/solution/service design and delivery)
• Maximising enterprise intellectual capital
• Creating an enterprise collaborative knowledge sharing environment
• Creating a learning organisation
• Delivering value based on customer/stakeholder knowledge
• Transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder/stakeholder value

A total of 40 organisations were nominated as 2009 European Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises.  Out of this group, 17 organisations were selected as 2009 European MAKE Finalists, and the top ten  (by total score) were recognised as 2009 European MAKE Winners.

The winners of the 2009 European Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) study are (in alphabetical order):

BP (United Kingdom): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognised BP for developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership (1st place), and creating a learning organisation (1st place). BP is a nine-time European MAKE Winner, including the overall 2001 European MAKE Winner.

British Broadcasting Corporation (United Kingdom): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognised the BBC for developing new products/services/solutions (1st place).  This is the fifth time that the BBC has been recognized as a European MAKE Winner.

Ericsson (Sweden): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognised Ericsson for maximising the company's intellectual capital.  This is the third time that Ericsson has been recognized as a European MAKE Winner.

IKEA (Netherlands): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognized IKEA for delivering value based on customer knowledge (1st place), and transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder/stakeholder value (1st place). This is the first time that IKEA has been recognised as a European MAKE Winner.

Mondragon Group (Spain): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognised Mondragon for developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership. This is the second time that Mondragon has been recognised as a European MAKE Winner.

Nokia (Finland): Nokia is cited in this year's Europe MAKE study for its knowledge-driven organisational culture (1st place), and enterprise collaborative knowledge sharing (1st place). Nokia is an eight-time European MAKE Winner.

Royal Dutch Shell (The Netherlands): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognised Royal Dutch Shell for transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder value. Royal Dutch Shell is a six-time European MAKE Winner.

SAP (Germany): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognised SAP for its organisational learning, and creating value from customer knowledge. SAP is a four-time European MAKE Winner, including the 2005 and 2008 overall European MAKE Winner.

Siemens (Germany): The 2009 European MAKE panel has recognized Siemens for maximising enterprise intellectual capital (1st place). Siemens is a seven-time European MAKE Winner, including the 2003 and 2004 overall European MAKE Winner.

Uria Menendez (Spain): The 2009 European MAKE panel recognises Uria Menendez for its enterprise collaborative knowledge sharing. This is the third time that Uria Menendez has been recognised as a European MAKE Winner.

For the first time, Nokia was awarded as the overall European MAKE Winner. Previous overall European MAKE Winners have been: BMW (2006 - joint winner), BP (2001), Norsk Tipping (2007), SAP (2005, 2008) Siemens (2003, 2004) and UBS (2006 - joint winner)

Key Findings and Trends

Even in the current global economic recession, this year's European MAKE Winners have delivered superior financial performance. Return on Revenues average 6.7% - over two times the Fortune Global 500 median. The leaders in this metric were Nokia, SAP and Siemens. Return on Assets average 9.8% - over four times the Fortune Global 500 median. The leaders in this metric were the BBC, Nokia and SAP.

According to the MAKE expert panel, the European knowledge-based economy is broadly based, but is driven by the following key business sectors (based on the number of MAKE Finalists in each industry): diversified manufacturing, food production/retail, oil & gas, and network communications.

During the past decade European firms have allocated considerable resources to improving their innovation and new product management capabilities, and it appears to be yielding benefits in terms of improved competitiveness and profitability. This MAKE knowledge performance dimension had the highest average Winner's score.

Europe MAKE leaders pioneered intellectual capital management and continue to create wealth through maximising enterprise intellectual capital.

European MAKE organisations are facing leadership challenges in developing knowledge workers.  This MAKE knowledge performance dimension had the lowest average Winner's score. A combination of factors - the retirement of growing numbers of 'baby boomers' and difficulties in recruiting talented new knowledge workers from the small pool of 'Generation Y' individuals - is forcing European firms to devote significant resources to human intellectual capital management.

The 9th European MAKE study has revealed that while the number of European organisations committed to knowledge-driven strategies continues to grow, in the face of severe economic disruptions there has been a decline in the number of European organisations able to compete against Asian and North American firms in the most competitive sectors of the global knowledge economy. Those European organisations which are continuing to invest in creating and implementing strategic enterprise knowledge strategies will come out of this economic recession with a significant competitive advantage.