6 consulting firms in Fortune Most Admired Companies
Tech giants Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon are according to Fortune and Korn Ferry Hay Group the globe’s most admired companies. Among the Top 50 Most Admired list are two professional services firms, IBM and Accenture, with also Booz Allen Hamilton, FIS, Hitachi and Willis Towers Watson recognised as high performers.
Every year Fortune joins forces with Korn Ferry Hay Group* to conduct research into the reputation of large corporates. To determine which companies excel and serve as corporate leaders when it comes to prestige, branding and workplace policies, the researchers measures company performance across nine key attributes, from financial soundness, to investment value and social responsibility.
To come to the list of firms, Korn Ferry Hay Group asked executives and analysts to rate more than 650 companies from 30 countries (in their own industry) – the large majority of the companies are part of the Fortune 1,000 (the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue), with the other companies taken under scrutiny all enjoying revenues of $10 billion or more. The 50 companies with the highest overall score have been included in the ‘50 Most Admired Companies’ ranking, while more than 50 other companies have also been recognised for their exceptional performance across the board or on a specific corporate factor.
For the fourth time in the history of the list, the ranking is led by a trio of tech giants under 40 years old: Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Amazon. The three leaders preside over a class of blue chips and even younger tech stalwarts, such as Facebook (#14), Salesforce (#34), and Netflix, which makes a return to the Top 50 at an impressive #19. The top 10 is completed by Berkshire Hathaway, Walt Disney, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Nike and General Electric.
Newcomers in the 2016 edition are Visa and Publix, which make debuts at #47 and #49. IBM is the highest ranked professional services firm, in 32nd place, while consulting and technology consultancy Accenture – included for the 13th consecutive year – finds itself in 36th spot.
Among the companies recognised outside the Top 50 are four firms active in the consulting industry: Booz Allen Hamilton, FIS (the parent of among others Capco and Double Effect), Hitachi (Hitachi Consulting serves as its consulting arm) and Willis Towers Watson (formerly Towers Watson) recognised as high performers.
* Korn Ferry Hay Group, formerly Hay Group, has conducted the research for the World's Most Admired Companies list since 1997.
