NEW YORK: Apple, the consumer electronics pioneer, and Google, the online search giant, are the two "most admired companies" in the world, according to a new study.
Fortune, the business title, partnered with Hay Group, the consultancy, to assess the US firms in the Fortune 1,000, and their foreign rivals in the Fortune Global 500 with revenues of at least $10 billion (£6.6bn; €7.3bn).
This group was cut down to 667 organisations which were seen as leading players across a range of industries, and the resulting list was presented to a panel of 4,170 directors, executives and analysts.
Apple received the highest overall score among this audience, and thus took the top spot in the annual poll for the third year in succession.
It was credited with having sold 250 million iPods, 43 million iPhones, and 32 million iPod Touches, while its recently-launched iPad is also viewed as a potential "game-changing" device in some quarters.
"This is the company that changed the way we do everything from buy music to design products to engage with the world around us," Fortune stated.
It also quoted Norbert Reithofer, ceo of BMW, who argued "the whole world held its breath before the iPad was announced. That's brand management at its very best."
Google rose one place to second, due to its on-going dominance of the search market, as well as the improving financial situation at YouTube, and as the web titan is continuing to build its mobile presence.
Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffet, was in third – down from second in 2009 – with Johnson & Johnson, the healthcare specialist, climbing from fifth to fourth in the same period.
Amazon, the online retailer, was not even in the top 50 last year, but claimed fifth position in the latest rankings, buoyed, in particular, by the popularity of the Kindle, its eBook reader.
Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola made up the ten most highly-respected businesses overall.
Muhtar Kent, ceo of Coca-Cola, suggested that chief executives have two profoundly important roles in establishing and maintaining corporate perceptions.
"The first is communicating your organisation's vision for the future, and the second is ensuring that you are developing the right leaders to execute that vision," he said.
"Everything about a company's reputation emanates from those two sources of influence."
Bob McDonald, Kent's counterpart at Procter & Gamble, further asserted that adopting a consistent tone and approach is essential in this area.
"I often joke, if you call me a boring leader … that's a compliment," he suggested.
Elsewhere in the Fortune/Hay report, UPS, the delivery firm, was regarded as having made the most progress in the area of social responsibility.
Starbucks, the coffee house chain, Marriott International, the hotel group, and Walt Disney, the entertainment conglomerate, similarly received praise for their activity in this field.
Disney also headed the product quality standings, with Intel, UPS, Apple and Singapore Airlines completing the top five in this contest.
When looking at global competitiveness, Nike was perceived as the best-placed business, with McDonald's and Intel further held to be in strong positions in terms of their worldwide prospects.
Finally, Apple was afforded the status of the best innovator among the pool of companies analysed, followed by Google, Nike and Amazon.
