Fortune has unveiled its annual ranking of the 50 world’s most admired companies. Apple is No.1 on list for the sixth straight year. In the top, the i-devices manufacturer is followed by Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Starbucks. This year’s ranking is dominated by U.S. companies, which take up most of the places—only eight are occupied by the businesses from outside the USA.
The first non-American company, BMW, is number 14. The next one, Toyota, is 15 lines down, landing on the 29th place. The foreign section is represented mostly by European companies (BMW, Nestlé, Volkswagen, Unilever, Accenture), with little presence of Asian businesses (Toyota, Singapore Airlines, Samsung Electronics). Fortune has approached Hay Group to help develop the ranking, receiving feedback on more than 1.400 companies from executives, directors and analysts. The methodology is very complicated—to know more about it, click here.
For each of the businesses on the list, Fortune has provided a short piece, outlining the company’s achievements over the past 12 months and explaining why it was admired. For instance, here is how it describes Apple’s performance on the market: “Apple has had a rough time lately with its stock price in a free fall and the widely publicized failure of its Maps feature. However, it remains a financial juggernaut, posting $13 billion in net income last quarter, making it the most profitable company in the world during that period. The company has its fanatical customer base, and it still refuses to compete on price, making the iconic iPhone and iPad products that are still widely seen as prestige devices. Competition may be stiff, but so far it remains behind: In Q4 2012, the iPhone 5 was the world’s best selling smartphone, followed in second place by the iPhone 4S.”
Fortune has also unveiled Top 10 Most Admired in Innovation, recognizing the companies’ achievements in social responsibility, people management, product quality and more. The gold, silver and bronze medal winners here are where Apple, Amazon.com and Google.
The list of world’s 50 most admired companies has been published for 30 years. To commemorate the anniversary of the ranking, Fortune is publishing an article in its March issue—read it here.