It stands to reason that companies have to fully understand their market to survive and prosper. But ponder this: women make or influence 85 per cent of all consumer decisions in the US, and yet according to International Labour Organisation figures from 1999 (the latest available figures), the number of American women in executive manager positions is just 5.1 per cent.

And although the number of women in executive positions around the world is steadily rising, including in Thailand, the US remains the leader in the number of women executives. Globally, women represent more than 40 per cent of the workforce, and yet make up on average just 20 per cent of all management positions.

Which raises the question: Are female consumers getting what they want from leading companies? Maybe. But they might be getting more if these companies promoted more women to leadership positions.

When women make the majority of consumer decisions in the US, it makes sense that a representative number of women should be in senior roles to best understand and respond to women's needs.

The day is surely coming when leading companies promote more women to executive positions, not through social obligation or on issues of fairness, but because if they do not they risk losing ground to competitors who do.

Charuvarn Vanasin, chairman and chief executive of advertising agency Lowe Thailand, says women have many opportunities to reach the top in business in Thailand, but most of the executive jobs are in the service industries. For women who want to make it in law or politics, it can be still difficult to get ahead.

''Women have made it to the top-there has been an increase in the number of women in top management,'' she says. ``There are women leaders in the service and hospitality industries but in other areas-law, politics, technology-we need more.''

Many businesses, it appears, are not recognising the competitive advantage of ensuring women reach the top.

But there are exceptions, the latest being healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson Medical Thailand, which launched the Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) in January to ensure more qualified women graduate into senior positions within the company.

Managing director Michael del Prado says parent company Johnson & Johnson introduced the WLI programme because it had come to recognise women as a business asset. It wanted to speed up the process of promoting more women to executive posts and removing the barriers that prevented them from scaling the career ladder.

The WLI programme has been introduced by Johnson & Johnson companies worldwide over the past few years and has made headway in giving women opportunities at senior levels, largely through women-to-women mentoring schemes.

''We want to hire the best talent from a more diverse pool of people,'' Del Prado says. ``Our market is changing, market demographics are changing. There needs to be more diversity in our company to reflect those changes.''

Wise move. While women are estimated to make or influence more than 85 per cent of all consumer purchases in the US, as noted above, the percentage of healthcare consumers who are women is even higher.

A WLI study found that US women made 90 per cent of family healthcare decisions, 79 per cent of doctors' visits and 80 per cent of healthcare expenditure. Del Prado thinks these figures are similar in Thailand.

In comparison, research by Catalyst, a US-based non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing women in business, found that only five health-related Fortune 500 companies had 25 per cent or more women in management positions. This was despite the fact that 83 per cent of health-occupation employees in the US are women.

Del Prado says he plans to have women in half of the executive manager positions by 2006, a target he insists will be reached legitimately, by promoting women with real leadership potential.

These women leaders-it has to be said-have probably been sitting at the next desk all along. Which makes you wonder: Is your next competitive edge sitting right next to you?

Source: WorldSources Online