Apple has once again been named the world’s most admired company. The Cupertino firm has topped Fortune’s annual list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies,” marking the tenth straight year the iPhone maker has been number one.
The magazine collects data from 3,800 executives, analysts, directors, and industry experts to come up with the rankings. In addition to Apple, the top five included Amazon, Starbucks, Berkshire Hathaway, and Disney. Google parent Alphabet took second place in last year’s rankings but slid all the way down to sixth place on this year’s list. General Electric, Southwest Airlines, Facebook, and Microsoft filed out the rest of the top ten. (Facebook and Microsoft tied for 9th.)
Fortune comes up with the list by looking at about 1,500 candidates. The list includes the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue. Also included are non-U.S. companies in Fortune’s Global 500 database that have revenues of $10 billion or more.
The publication then narrows the list to the highest-revenue companies in each industry, a total of 680 in 28 countries. The top-rated companies were picked from that pool of 680; the executives who voted work at the companies in that group.
Korn Ferry Hay Group asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate enterprises in their own industry on nine criteria. The criteria ranged from investment value and quality of management and products to social responsibility and ability to attract talent. A company’s score must rank in the top half of its industry survey to be listed.
To select the top 50 companies, Korn Ferry Hay Group then asked 3,800 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the 10 companies they admired most. They chose from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year’s surveys. The list also included those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry.
