Apple Tops Fortune's 'Most Admired Companies' List For Sixth Year Running

[MacRumors]

Apple has won the number one slot in Fortune's annual "World's Most Admired Companies" list for the sixth year in a row.

The ranking is based on a large-scale poll of corporate executives, directors, and industry analysts who were asked to rank companies by nine key attributes: Innovation, People management, Use of corporate assets, Social responsibility, Quality of management, Financial soundness, Long-term investment, Quality of products/services and Global competitiveness. Apple scored #1 in all nine categories.

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.

The announcement is a bit of an embarrassment for Brad Chase, founding partner of Capitol Media Partners, who wrote a Forbes guest post earlier this week predicting that "bumbling" Apple would lose its number one slot and arguing that Fortune would have to "defy logic" to place Apple at the top once again. Confusion between Fortune and Forbes led to Chase's opinion piece being misreported by several media outlets earlier this week as Apple having actually lost its slot in a Forbes ranking.

Article Link: Apple Tops Fortune's 'Most Admired Companies' List For Sixth Year Running

 

[basesloaded190]

I thought Apple was doomed and done for?

 

[drewyboy]

egg in face much? Just goes to show these investors know **** about running a company... well other than into the ground.

 

[ECUpirate44]

It's just Magical! (Tim Cook voice).

 

[Tankmaze]

google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.

 

[cclloyd]

You don't see Samsung on that list.

 

[Frign]

Disney?

 

[Mr Fusion]

The announcement is a bit of an embarrassment for Brad Chase, founding partner of Capitol Media Partners, who wrote a Forbes guest post earlier this week predicting that "bumbling" Apple would lose its number one slot and arguing that Fortune would have to "defy logic" to place Apple at the top once again.

I find it more embarrassing for Fortune, who can't even crack the Top 10 of their own list.

 

[AQUADock]

google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.

Chromebook Pixel the $1000+ web browser, so innovative. Google glass however is a different story but thats not released yet.

 

[Hakone]

I figured Disney would be top 5, but I guess not.

 

[Macboy Pro]

In this context, Admired = "brand recognition" or "Marketed"

 

[Nightarchaon]

Disney is only on the list because everyone wants Iron Man Armour with Jedi Robes ......

 

[HenryDJP]

I figured Disney would be top 5, but I guess not.

Disney just isn't one of the top places for people to choose for vacation spots anymore. It just doesn't hold the same flare as it use to years back.

 

[TimUSCA]

google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.

It's easy to innovate when you just create everything that comes to mind and see what sticks. Running a business is also about spending money wisely. I'm sure Apple has had a million ideas that would be considered innovation, but they had the good sense not to waste money on it. Failures like Ping aren't a long list after Jobs came back.

 

[lotzosushi]

You don't see Samsung on that list.

lol they're #35 on the list!

 

[ajvizzgamer101]

google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.

Google could easily take first if they made there own hardware. Chromebook Pixel is remarkable hardware instead of fragmenting everything just so they can be "open"

 

[TimUSCA]

Disney just isn't one of the top places for people to choose for vacation spots anymore. It just doesn't hold the same flare as it use to years back.

I disagree. Being in the Top 10 at all still signifies that it's still got it. It might not have the same flare to you because you aren't a child anymore, but if you still watch kids there, it's freaking magical.

 

[lucasfer899]

Suck it, Samsung!!

 

[Lone Deranger]

You don't see Samsung on that list.

Don't worry. They just haven't gotten around to bribing Fortune yet.

 

[Rogifan]

Just more evidence that Apple the company and AAPL the stock don't really mirror each other. I know the company I work for (healthcare, fortune 50) often references Apple as a company they want to be compared to.

 

[lucasfer899]

google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.

How?
What Innovation have they come up with?
I miss the days where they were just a search engine.

 

[Yelmurc]

I'd like to see this survey by region. How does Apple hold up outside the U.S. compared to inside the U.S?

 

[pgiguere1]

google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.

I don't know, as much as Google are able to come up with innovative products, those products (the physical ones) rarely ever affect our daily lives because they rarely are worth buying, or even possible to buy.

How many people do you know personally who own (or plan to own soon) a Chromebook Pixel? A Nexus Q? A Google TV? Google Fiber? How many plan to buy Google Glass at launch?

Now how many people do you know who use recent Apple products daily? Who buy new ones at launch?

Google mostly make niche products that aren't necessarily bad, but still niche products for a reason or another. Most of their income comes from services, mostly targeted ads with information mined from services like web search, maps, gmail, youtube etc. which haven't significantly evolved recently.

 

[Daze & Confuse]

You don't see Samsung on that list.

You don't see any non-US companies on that list.....

And any list that puts Coca-Cola and Starbucks in the top 5 most 'admired' companies on the entire planet can't be taken that seriously.

 

[Mystic386]

Brad Chase, founding partner of Capitol Media Partners goes on about a bumbling apple not being at number one and some how over looks increased profit, increased sales and falls for the Wall Street share drop after Apple exceeded forecasts but ell short of analyst expectations.

Capitol Media Partners provide strategic counsel.

I think Brad just put his foot in his mouth.

Priceless.