Fortune’s America’s Top 20 Most Admired Companies 2008 features Apple Inc. atop the list, beating out the likes of Berkshire Hathaway (2), General Electric (3), Google (4), BMW (14), and Microsoft (16).
“To create the top 20, Fortune and its survey partners at Hay Group asked the experts — in this case, more than 3,700 people from dozens of industries — to select the 10 companies they admire most. This year’s winners all have strong records of innovation, leadership, and financial strength — and their employees know it,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“It is a tribute to its CEO that Apple, which ten years ago seemed headed for the slag heap, is No. 1 on this list,” Elmer-DeWitt writes. “Steve Jobs has always had a knack for weaving magic out of silicon and software. But who knew he could build a $24 billion (in sales) company on the strength of a portable jukebox and a computer with a single-digit market share?”
Elmer-DeWitt, “His pitch, as he leveraged the success of the iPod, was very simple: Apple products work, and if you buy more than one, they work better. The company (if not its stock) is on a tear, but even with the economy weakening, it will be interesting to see how economically sensitive this growth engine is.”
How Apple ranked in 8 key attrbutes of reputation (scale of 1-5, 1=best, 5=worst):
Innovation – 1
People management – 1
Use of corporate assets – 3
Social responsibility – 5
Quality of management – 3
Financial soundness – 3
Long-term investment – 3
Quality of products/services – 1
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Greg M.” for the heads up.]
Financial soundness is a 3!! With zero debt and over 18billion in free cash? What the hell?
What the hell has social responsibility to do with running a for profit corporation?
In a country where the entire medical system is run by socially irresponsible, for profit companies, you want your computer manufacturer to be socially responsible?
I don’t get it.
@Jings
There are some that believe Apple is making a mistake holding that much cash. Maybe those people read the question as, “Makes sound financial decisions.”
How Apple ranked in 8 key attrbutes of reputation:
Innovation – 1
People management – 1
Use of corporate assets – 3
Social responsibility – 5
Quality of management – 3
Financial soundness – 3
Long-term investment – 3
Quality of products/services – 1
MDN: Tell us what the scale is. 1 to 5? 1 to 100? Makes a difference.
and yet my apple stock is down to $122 a share??? There is no reason for it to be this low… people need to stop selling and start buying
😀
This was a link from the article, good stuff
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/amac_apple.fortune/index.htm
” says Jobs, in the belief that if you make something “really great, then everybody will want to use it.”
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/amac_apple.fortune/index.htm
@ GizmoDan:
The information you requested is right there on the first line you cut and paste from the article into your feedback:
> How Apple ranked in 8 key attrbutes of reputation (scale of 1-5, 1=best, 5=worst):
Honestly, man, you must have actually deleted it from your response in order to make the post you did. It’s right there in black & white, with the word “attrbutes” misspelled & everything.
Honestly I can hardly believe how lame this list is. It looks to me like size/profitability were virtually the only considerations. How else does a company like Microstiff get on the list? Admired for what? The same for 3M: Admired for what? Price-fixing? Using dangerous chemicals?
@AL
Yeah, who wants a medical system in which the incentive of profit pushes people to compete and excel offering more and better treatments. Yeah. The whole medical system should be run by the government, attract government types to work there. You know the types, the lackluster mediocre folks that can’t make it in business.
@AL
I just pictured a hospital full of those government people who handle airline security.
Here’s the link to the full article –
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/amac_apple.fortune/index.htm
For ZT – Don’t bother checking the top ten, you’re down at Number 16.
Peace.
Social responsibility – 5
They must be drinking the Green(Peace) koolade.
Apple’s #1, right behind #0.5, Microsoft… eh, Zune Tang?