The 2014 Dow Jones annual review of sustainability-indices places Asian-Pacific companies top in nine of its twenty-four industry groupings. Winners include Japan’s Kao Corporation (household product manufacture), India’s Wipro Limited (software) and Australia’s Westpac (bank).
Dow Jones demoted a number of 2013 stars, including Nike (sports goods), Starbucks (coffee) and McDonald’s (fast food). Australia Bank, GlaxoSmithKline and Deutsche Post settled comfortably into their shoes after they replaced them in the top 10%. It seems that making lots of money is no longer sufficient to reach the stars.
