Competition is more and more about competing for capital. Furthermore, they compete for investors' support, and do so aggressively, across an increasingly international terrain. One reason for this is the greater ease with which institutions and private investors can switch investments from one company to another, one industry to another or one part of the world to another. They are armed with better and almost instantaneous information.
Financial performance is increasingly transparent.
The number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions is increasing and the Internet feeds investors with continuous data on corporate assets. Companies have never been as easy to buy and sell. So senior managers are under daily pressure to deliver superior performance. Failure may be quickly punished by dismissal, takeover or even break-up. The dismissal of chief executive Derek Wanless was not enough to save failing British bank National Westminster from the Royal Bank of Scotland's hostile bid.