"America's Most Admired Companies"

Nicholas Stein

Fortune

March 3, 2003, pp. 81-92

Each year, Fortune magazine gives it's rankings of America's most admired companies, based on ratings on social responsibility, innovation, long-term investment value, use of corporate assets, employee talent, financial soundness, quality of products/services, and quality of management. This year's Top Ten were:

1. Wal-Mart
2. Southwest Airlines
3. Berkshire Hathaway
4. Dell Computer
5. General Electric
6. Johnson & Johnson
7. Microsoft
8. FedEx
9. Starbucks
10. Procter & Gamble.

The top three on each of the eight criteria used in the overall rankings were:

• Social responsibility—Alexander & Baldwin, Johnson & Johnson, American Express
• Innovation—PepsiCo, Nike, Medtronic
• Long-term investment value—Medtronic, Cardinal Health, Cintas
• Use of corporate assets—Berkshire Hathaway, Cintas, Philip Morris (Altria)
• Employee talent—General Electric, American Express, Philip Morris (Altria)
• Financial soundness—Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, Philip Morris (Altria)
• Quality of products/services—Philip Morris (Altria), Medtronic, Procter & Gamble
• Quality of management—Philip Morris (Altria), Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric

The top ten admired companies outside the U. S. were:

1. Toyota Motor
2. BMW
3. Sony
4. Nokia
5. Nestlé
6. Singapore Airlines
7. L'Oréal
8. Honda Motor
9. BP
10. Royal Dutch/Shell Group

The article also provides lists of rankings for 66 different industries.

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