A recent Harvard Business Review article named Komatsu Ltd. chairman Masahiro Sakane one of the best-performing CEOs in the world.

Masahiro Sakane, chairman of Komatsu Ltd., the parent company of Komatsu America Corp., was recently named one of the best-performing CEOs in the world, according to a recent Harvard Business Review article. CEOs on the list were selected from nearly 2,000 CEOs of large public companies worldwide, and were ranked based on the performance of their companies over their entire time in office — or, for those still in the job, up until Sept. 30, 2009. Sakane served as president and CEO of Komatsu Ltd. from June 2001 to June 2007.

According to the article, the rankings “highlight the great extent to which CEOs account for variations in company performance, beyond those due to industry, country, and economic swings.” The article goes on to discern the importance of objective, long-term measures to assess CEO performance.

To be considered for the list, a CEO had to have assumed the job of CEO no earlier than January 1995 and no later than December 2007. CEOs of all publicly traded companies that had made Standard & Poor’s Global 1200 or BRIC 40 lists since 1997 were identified and considered, producing a pool of 1,999 CEOs from 1,205 companies.

Three metrics were used in determining the success of the CEOs: country-adjusted total shareholder return, industry-adjusted shareholder return, and the change in equity market capitalization for the CEO’s entire tenure. The group of CEOs included for consideration, came from companies based in 33 countries and represented 48 nationalities.

Sakane ranked 17^th among his world-wide peers and was the top-rated CEO from a Japanese company.

Headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Ill.,Komatsu America Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of Komatsu Ltd., an international manufacturer and supplier of construction, mining and compact construction equipment.