MOSTGE, FEDEX, SOUTHWEST, P&G, AND STARBUCKS
ADMIRED COMPANIES
THE TOP 5:
FORTUNE
HOW
GE
STAYS
ON TOP
PLUS:
Triumph of the Prius
Inside TOYOTA s
Hybrid Revolution
MARCH 6, 2006
CEO
Jeff Immelt
Back at
No. 1
www.fortune.com (AOL Keyword: Fortune)
- EXCERPT -
A M E R I C A S M O S T A D M I R E D
HOW WE CONDUCT THE MOST ADMIRED SURVEY
The Most Admired list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations. Our survey partners at Hay Group started with the
FORTUNE 1,000 the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue and the top foreign companies operating in the U.S.
They sorted the companies by industry and selected the ten largest companies in each. To create the 65 industry lists, Hay asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate companies in their own industry on eight criteria, from investment value to social responsibility. This year only the best are listed: A company s score must rank in the top half of its industry survey.
To create the top 20 and overall list of Most Admired Companies, Hay Group asked the 10,000 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the ten companies they admired most. They chose from a
list made up of the companies that ranked among the top 25% in last year s survey, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry. The difference in the voting rolls is why some results can seem anomalous for example, FedEx is one of the top ten Most Admired
Companies but only second in its own industry.
A total of 611 companies in 70 industries were surveyed. Due to an insufficient response rate, the results for 29 companies in five industries are not reported: advertising, consumer credit,
health care, pharmacy and other services, precision equipment,
and printing. Thus American Express (No. 17) and 3M (No. 20)
are on the overall list even though their industries consumer credit and precision equipment did not have enough responses to merit a category. F
