5. GlaxoSmithKline |
 |
| Regarded
by many as the key facilitator of the merger
of last year, creating a drug giant with sales
of $18bn annually, Garnier’s reward was
the new group’s top job. With a PhD and
a Stanford MBA, he is well qualified to lead
in a sector where research is key. |
|
6. Next |
|
Simon
Wolfson, 33, is at least a decade younger
than the rest of our Top 10 leaders, and ambitious
to boot. A powerful supporter of the Next
Directory catalogue (which accounts for 10%
of revenue), he has pledged to double the
group’s turnover by 2007.
|
|
7. Cadbury-Schweppes |
|
| John
Sunderland became chief executive in1996,
and since then he has managed the neat trick
of keeping both investors and customers happy,
with a (mostly) rising share price and careful
husbandry of a portfolio of well-loved brands. |
| 8.
Selfridges |
|
| When
this dapper Italian and former Habitat MD
became CEO in 1998, his plan to make the dowdy
stores fashionable again raised doubts. But
three years later he’s done it,ng elegant
new stores in Birmingham and Manchester along
the way. |
| 9.
William Morrison |
|
| Morrison’s
is a minnow compared with the other supermarket
chain in our Top 10, but it put in a giant-killing
performance. Managing director Dowd’s strategy
of prudent expansion works there are now
110 stores across the country. |
| 10.
ARM Holdings |
|
| Executive
chairman since October, Saxby has been the
ARM boss for 11 years, taking it to the stock
market in 1998. ARM’s chips are fitted in
half of all new mobile phones. |
