To create the top 20, Fortune and its survey partners at Hay Group asked the experts -- in this case, more than 3,700 people from dozens of industries -- to select the 10 companies they admire most. This year's winners all have strong records of innovation, leadership, and financial strength -- and their employees know it.
Top 20 rank: 1
Rank in Computers: 1
It is a tribute to its CEO that Apple, which ten years ago seemed headed for the slag heap, is No. 1 on this list. Steve Jobs has always had a knack for weaving magic out of silicon and software. But who knew he could build a $24 billion (in sales) company on the strength of a portable jukebox and a computer with a single-digit market share?
His pitch, as he leveraged the success of the iPod, was very simple: Apple products work, and if you buy more than one, they work better. The company (if not its stock) is on a tear, but even with the economy weakening, it will be interesting to see how economically sensitive this growth engine is. -
Philip Elmer-DeWitt--
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Top 20 rank: 2
Rank in Insurance: Property and Casualty: 1
To see "admiration" in action, just look at Berkshire Hathaway's stock chart from last fall. As other financial shares were getting hammered -- some Berkshire investments among them -- investors bid up Berkshire's own stock by 27%.
Why? Wall Street believes that Berkshire and its acclaimed leader, Warren Buffett, possess a matchless ability to turn today's problems into tomorrow's profits. The key to this ability: "An absence of any regard for short-term results," says Don Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Co. (of which Berkshire owns 18%). Indeed, Berkshire has just launched a bond insurance company to compete with troubled MBIA and Ambac. It has also invested $800 million in subprime-battered Swiss Re.
Can Buffett, 77, continue making lemonade from lemons? There's no reason to think otherwise. Of greater concern: Who takes over once the legend is gone? -
Jon Birger--
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Top 20 rank: 3
Rank in Electronics: 1
GE is no longer No. 1, but its reputation has still held up well, considering. The company gets half its profit from financial services but announced it was bailing out of subprime in July, before the worst trouble hit.
The resulting write-offs didn't dent earnings significantly. While its stock is stuck where it was six years ago, GE remains America's top shareholder-wealth creator, and it continues to deliver profit growth of 15% or more, remarkable for a $173 billion company. -
Geoff Colvin--
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Top 20 rank: 4
Rank in Internet Services and Retailing: 2
Microsoft may be bigger, but everything in the tech world revolves around Google. Its "Do no evil" motto has become a kind of Hippocratic oath for other Silicon Valley firms, and even its fiercest critics agree that Google sees itself as the caretaker for the web. Competitors talk of meetings where Googlers, as altruistic as Santa's elves, ask, "What's good for the web?" Of course, what's good for the web has also proven to be very good for Google. -
Josh Quittner--
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Top 20 rank: 5
Rank in Motor Vehicles: 2
In the past 12 months Toyota has seen three top American executives defect to competitors, been humiliated in its first season of NASCAR racing, and had its reputation for impeccable quality sullied. Yet those were mere speed bumps as it cruised to second place in U.S. car and truck sales (passing Ford) and took the winner's circle in worldwide sales.
Toyota continues to add capacity, invest in hybrid technology, and roll up the healthiest profits in the industry. If 2007 was a tough year for Toyota, imagine what a good one looks like. -
Alex Taylor III--
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