An article in this issue of the Caribbean Top 100 Companies titled “In Pursuit Of Opportunities Outside Caricom “Is The Future for Caricom Companies Outside of Caricom?” describes Caricom, as a place for doing business, as increasingly challenging, with the prospects for real growth for bigger companies dwindling.

As we researched the 2013 annual reports for this issue we see a trend among Caribbean business leaders. They are increasingly focusing their companies resources on strengthening their home market as a launch pad for growing their international footprints. Markets of specific focus include the USA, Canada, South and Central America, the United Kingdom and new markets in Western Africa and Continental Europe.

GraceKennedy Limited is Building A Global Consumer Group and National Commercial Bank Jamaica is pursuing activities aligned to its strategy of being among the top five financial services institutions in the English and Spanish speaking Caribbean. Goddard Enterprises Limited already has an extensive network of businesses operating throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America. The Massy Group is pursuing investments in Central and South America.

The question now is: As you move out of your domestic and regional markets to compete globally, how do you measure yourself? How do you compare your operations to those of other international and multinational corporations?

The US$ is universally accepted as the international currency of business and measurement of real financial success. To better understand how Caribbean companies are positioned in this larger market space we have to compare them to this international measurement. It is from this that we can truly measure how well they are competing.

Wal-Mart for example remained at #1 on the Fortune 500 this year with US$476,294Millions and toppled Royal Dutch Shell to grab the Global 500 top spot. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. is ranked #970 with revenues of US$ 1,998 Million on the Fortune 500. The Caribbean company topping the Businessuite Top 100 Ranking ranks lower than this company. As a matter of fact, the total revenue of the 100 companies on the Businessuite 2014 Top 100 is just US$12 Million.

It’s an unfair comparison, you may say but that’s how these companies will be measured in the global market race.

The Businessuite News Centre (BNC) through its premier digital, print and online publications, Businessuite Magazine, Businessuite Magazine Digital and the
www.businessuiteonline.com has been publishing the hugely popular and widely read annual Top 10 Jamaican CEO’s since 2005 and most recently the annual 50 Most Powerful Women In Jamaican Businesses.

BNC has now expanded its coverage and rankings across the Caribbean and has published the 2014 premier editions of The Caribbean’s Top 100 Public Companies with The Caribbean’s Top 100 CEO’s to come in November .

As the only Caribbean magazine with this kind of digitally published corporate and financial information, our reach and exposure is substantially extended beyond the Caribbean. The Businessuite Caribbean’s Top 100 is available online to hundreds of thousands of investors and business executives looking to the Caribbean for investment opportunities and business partners.

In arriving at a universally accepted method for our rankings, we researched other rankings such as that employed by FORTUNE and FORBES magazines. We sought to adopt these tried and proven methods, adjusting for local peculiarities. The intent is to compare and measure companies on The Businessuite Caribbean Top 100 with those on the FORTUNE and FORBES rankings.

Companies used for the Businessuite Top 100 are publically listed on one or a combination of the following Caribbean stock exchanges: Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.

Our primary ranking is based on US$ Revenues, supported by Profits After Tax and Capitalization to further highlight the top performers. We have also included individual Top 10 rankings for the main markets of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana.

For the main Businessuite Top 100 Ranking, the companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal years in US$.

An undertaking of this magnitude would not have been possible without the support of the following people and organisations.

 Barry Blenman, Operations Supervisor, Business Development, Barbados Stock Exchange Inc.
 George Edwards, General Manager, Guyana Stock Exchange
 Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest, General Manager, Jamaica Stock Exchange and her marketing team of Michael Johnson and Neville Ellis
 Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange – Information Department
 Klao Bell-Lewis, Communications Director and Collin Cunningham, Communications Officer at the Caribbean Development Bank
 Sushil Jain, Financial Analyst and Consultant
 Avril King – Virtual Assistant Services
 Ainsworth Savage – Ph.D Candidate
 Businessuite News Centre (BNC) and Blackslate Media Group team members

Your collective efforts and contribution has made this publication possible.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. We however accept that we will make errors and omissions in this our maiden effort. Your assistance in helping to improve the creditability and reliability of the information by pointing out such errors and omissions, in addition to suggestions for improvement, will be greatly appreciated.BM

The Publishers
Businessuite News Centre (BNC)
businessuitemagzine@gmail.com