"America's Most Admired Companies"

Ann Harrington

Fortune

March 8, 2004, pp. 80-111

Each year, Fortune magazine gives it rankings of America's most admired companies, based on ratings made by 10,000 executives, directors, and securities analysts. This year's top ten were:

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

Though there are some small differences in the order of the top ten from last year, the only "newcomer" to the list is IBM (which actually is returning after a 17-year absence).

Ratings were also made for companies in the respondents' own industries on social responsibility, innovation, long-term investment value, use of corporate assets, employee talent, financial soundness, quality of products/services, and quality of management. The high scorers on these criteria were:

• Social Responsibility—United Parcel Service, Alcoa, Washington Mutual
• Innovation—Washington Mutual, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble
• Long-term Investment Value—Exxon Mobil, United Parcel Service, Berkshire Hathaway
• Use of Corporate Assets—United Parcel Service, Procter & Gamble, Berkshire Hathaway
• Employee Talent—Procter & Gamble, American Express, Walgreen
• Financial Soundness—United Parcel Service, Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch
• Quality of Products/Services—Anheuser-Busch, United Parcel Service, Procter & Gamble
• Quality of Management—United Parcel Service, Liz Claiborne, Procter & Gamble

The top ten admired companies outside the US were:

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

The article also provides lists of rankings for 64 different industries.

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