Tech CEOs headed by the late Steve Jobs are at the top of the pile in the Harvard Business Review 2013 list of 100 best-performing CEOs in the world.
HBR assessed the long-term performance of nearly 2,000 CEOs, from the first day on the job to the last and for CEOs still in office, until August 31, 2012, to come up with the list of best-performing CEOs.
The list assessed how much total shareholder returns had changed over the tenure of the respective CEO, and the overall-increase in market capitalisation.
Harvard Business Review said, "Our goal was to implement a scorecard that would not only get people talking about long-term performance but also alter the way that boards, executives, consultants, and management scholars thought about and assessed CEOs."
Steve Jobs was number 1 on HBR 2010 list as well. From 1997 to 2011, Apple's market value increased by $359 billion, and its shareholder return experienced average compound annual growth of 35 percent.
"That remarkable accomplishment is likely to go unbeaten for a long time," HBR said on Jobs.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon has now climbed to the number 2 spot, up from number 7 in HBR 2010 list. Under his leadership, the company delivered industry-adjusted shareholder returns of 12,266 percent and saw its value increase by $111 billion.
Others in the top 10 include, Samsung Electronics' Yun Jong-Yong at number 3 and John T Chambers of Cisco Systems at number 10. The highest-ranked woman on the list is Meg Whitman, currently the CEO of beleaguered HP, whose performance as the CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008 earned her the 9th spot.
HBR further noted: "We wanted this innovation to shine a spotlight on the CEOs worldwide who had created long-term value for their companies, and we wanted to give executives around the world critical benchmarks they could aim for."
Eight Indian CEOs have made it to the list, with ITC's Y C Deveshwar and late Subir Raha of ONGC finding a place in the top 20. The other Indians on the list include late Subir Raha of ONGC, at 13th place, ahead of Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani who was ranked 28th. Larsen and Toubro's A M Naik was ranked 32nd, followed by BHEL's A K Puri (38), Bharti Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal (65), Jindal Steel and Power's Naveen Jindal (87) and Steel Authority of India's V S Jain (89).
With agency inputs