Apple Computer has been noted as this year’s mostadmired company. Fortune magazine [March 17, 2008] profiles CEO Steve Jobs, reporting that “what makes him a great CEO drive him to put his company,and his investors, at risk.”
To create the top 20 and theoverall list of most admired companies, Fortune survey partner, the Hay Group,asked 3,721 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded toindustry surveys to select the 10 companies they admired most. They were askedto choose from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25 percent inlast year’s survey, plus those that finished in the top 20 percent of their industry.
Anyone could vote for any company in any industry. The difference in the votingrolls is why some results can seem anomalous, for example, Johnson &Johnson is one of the top 10 most admired companies but only second in its ownindustry. In all, 622 companies in 65 industries were surveyed.
The top 20: