Fortune Partnership

Fortune® World’s Most Admired Companies™

The top companies, defined by Korn Ferry + Fortune

Since 1997, Korn Ferry has partnered with Fortune to identify the World's Most Admired Companies (WMAC). We survey top executives and directors from eligible companies, along with financial analysts, to identify the companies with the strongest corporate reputation within their industries and across all sectors. Learn more about this year's top-rated companies.

Additionally, each year we conduct supplemental research to uncover the business practices that make the World’s Most Admired Companies so successful. Our past research studies have focused on a wide range of topics, including attraction and retention of talent, leadership development, diversity, equity & inclusion, organizational agility, workforce transformation and ESG and sustainability.

This year our research focuses on corporate culture. We are examining the role of culture in supporting strategic objectives and the approaches that organizations are taking to develop and maintain the cultures needed for future success. Register for our upcoming webinar to be the first to hear the results!

 


FORTUNE is a registered trademark, and WORLD’S MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES is a trademark, of Fortune Media IP Limited, used under license.

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World’s Most Admired Companies 2023

The Top Ten All-Stars

  • 1. Apple
  • 2. Amazon.com
  • 2. Microsoft
  • 4. Berkshire Hathaway
  • 5. JP Morgan Chase
  • 6. Walt Disney
  • 7. Costco Wholesale
  • 8. Pfizer
  • 9. Alphabet
  • 10. American Express

Access the full list

One thing that many of these highly successful organizations have in common is their ability to change. This organizational agility gives them an unbeatable competitive advantage. For them, success doesn’t happen in spite of change, it happens as a result of it.

Read about one business practice that this year's top-respected firms are emphasizing most

Methodology

To determine the best-regarded companies, Korn Ferry and Fortune asked executives, directors and industry analysts to rate enterprises on nine criteria, 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.

The 600+ company candidates and 15,000+ responding survey participants are from:

  • FORTUNE 1000 companies

  • Global 500 companies & other major non-US companies

  • 28

    countries

  • 52

    industries

Frequently asked questions

How are companies selected to be on the list?

FORTUNE determines the industry groupings by using the Fortune 1000 listing and the Global 500 listing. The number of companies within an industry range from a minimum of 5 companies to a maximum of 15. Companies must have approximately $10 billion in revenue and rank among the largest by revenue within their industry. The more companies competing internationally, the more companies in an industry grouping.

What are the attributes on which companies are evaluated when determining the industry rankings?

  1. Ability to attract and retain talented people 
  2. Quality of management 
  3. Social responsibility to the community and the environment 
  4. Innovativeness 
  5. Quality of products or services 
  6. Wise use of corporate assets 
  7. Financial soundness 
  8. Long-term investment value 
  9. Effectiveness in doing business globally

How are the attributes defined on the survey?

Only the attribute names listed above are provided on the survey. Survey participants are asked to rate companies based on firsthand knowledge from working with them or based on anything they may have observed or heard about them. Thus, the interpretation of the meaning of the attributes within a specific industry is left to the respondents. 

How were these attributes developed?

The attributes were developed prior to the inception of the Most Admired Companies rankings in the mid-1980s through a series of interviews with executives and industry analysts to determine the qualities that make a company worthy of admiration. 

Who is surveyed?

For those companies on the Most Admired list, a maximum of 10 top executives and 7 directors (outside board members) per company are selected as well as a pool of industry analysts. 

Who were the surveys sent to at my company?

The list of previous participants for your company can be found through the FORTUNE administrator site. Under “Registration” click on “2. Confirm Company Participants” to view last year’s list. You can make updates as needed by clicking “Edit” or “Delete”.

Can I review/update the list of participants for my company before survey administration?

Yes, all POCs can update their company’s participant list during the registration period. After logging into the FORTUNE administrator site, you will be able to view your participant list by clicking “2. Confirm Company Participants” under the “Registration” section of this site.

When is the survey conducted?

The participant list is compiled from July to September and the surveys are sent out in October each year. All surveys are due back to Korn Ferry for third-party tabulation by mid-November at the latest.

How are the Most Admired Company Industry Rankings determined?

Raters are asked to evaluate each eligible company on each attribute by assigning a score from zero ('Poor') to ten ('Excellent'). For the purposes of the industry rankings, a company’s overall score is determined through a simple average of the individual attribute scores. Companies who rank in the top half of their industry are defined as “most admired” within their industry. 

How is the Top 50 “All-Star” list calculated?

Respondents are asked to identify the 10 companies they admire most, regardless of industry, from a list of companies that ranked in the top 25% of all companies the previous year; ranked in the top 3 within their industry the previous year (top 4 for non-U.S. companies); or a company that ranked among the top 50 All-Stars last year and did not make any of the above cuts. Excluded are companies on last year’s list that were not admired, i.e., did not rank in the top 50% of their industry, and companies on this year’s list that were not on last year’s list. 

How can a company be listed as a Most Admired All-Star Company, but not appear near the top of its industry?

Since the All-Star list is a separate poll from the individual industry lists, involving a different process (see above) and a larger set of raters, it is possible that companies may perform better on the All-Star list than they do when judged solely by their industry peers.

Where can I find the company attribute ratings?

Visit FORTUNE's website for the full industry listings including company overall scores and attribute scores. 

When are the findings published?

The information will be published on Fortune's website on February 1st, 2023. FORTUNE will also release the latest rankings in the February edition which hits newsstands on February 7, 2023. We will also share the results and insights on Korn Ferry’s This Week in Leadership series. 

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