Have a look at most lists that cover the largest companies, the most admired companies, the most valuable companies, the companies with best products, the companies people like to work for the most or the ones where the CEOs are most widely regarded, and Apple is likely to be at the top. Such is the case with Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2022. A look at the methodology shows how limited the universe of those surveyed is and why there is a potential conflict with the partner Fortune has for the project.
Apple has the largest market capitalization of any public company in the world at $2.85 trillion. In the most recently reported quarter, it had record revenue of $124 billion, on which it made net income of just over $34 billion. Apple has over $150 billion in cash and marketable securities.
Apple finished second on the BrandZ list of the world’s most valuable brands at $612 billion, just behind Amazon’s $684 billion.
Apple does poorly on the Glassdoor Best Places to Work 2022 list, where it places 56th.
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The new Fortune list is based on the opinion of people from a very small sample. Executives from 640 companies were the universe of those who voted. Korn Ferry, the executive recruiting firm, was Fortune’s partner. According to the methodology, “Korn Ferry asked 3,740 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the 10 companies they admired most.”
Korn Ferry makes its money recruiting high-level executives and board members, among other things. The Fortune study is for good PR reasons and is featured on the Korn Ferry website. Fortune would have been better off to do the work on its own. The optics of the partnership with Korn Ferry are troubling.
Among the people not asked to rank the companies were people who buy their products, their workers or the workers at their suppliers. As recently as December 2020, The Verge reported “Former employees say Apple stood by while suppliers violated Chinese labor laws.” Late last year, The New York Times reported issues of verbal abuse, retaliation, discrimination and sexual harassment. Korn Ferry did not catch up with any of these people.
Click here to see which American company has the worst reputation.
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