TSMC Tops Asia Corporate Governance

No company in Asia does a better job of meeting the needs of analysts and investors than Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), according to participants in Institutional Investor's first All-Asia Executive Team survey.

Portfolio managers and sell-side analysts were asked to name the companies in their coverage universe that excel at each of six investor-relations attributes, including the accessibility of senior management, credibility and candor of IR departments, quality and depth of answers to inquiries, transparency of financial reporting and disclosure, and more. Votes were weighted by place and tallied to create separate buy- and sell-side rankings of the best companies in each of 19 industry sectors.

Participants were separately asked to name the best executives at the companies they cover, with dual rankings (buy side, sell side) for Best CEO, Best CFO and Best IR Professional in each sector.

TSMC captures six of its eight possible first-place positions, more than any other company in the survey: Morris Chang is the Best CEO in the estimation of analysts on both the buy and sell sides; Lora Ho is the buy side's choice for No. 1 CFO and Elizabeth Sun is their pick for Best IR professional; and both camps say TSMC is the Best Company in the Technology/Semiconductors sector.

Two Chinese firms -- Baidu and China Telecom Corp. -- tie for second place, with five first-place positions each.

More than 1,150 companies from eleven countries earn recognition in the survey results, which reflect the opinions of 870 investment professionals at some 420 institutions.

Institutional Investor