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GE Most Admired Company in the World, Fortune List Reveals

General Electric, once again, heads Fortune magazine`s "List of America`s Most Admired Companies," as well as, the list of most admired companies, world wide. General Electric held the first place from 1998 to 2002. During 2003 and 2004 WalMart was number 1, but since then the company`s image has been tainted, and the retail giant settled for 19th place, after being 12th in 2006. In 2005, the computer manufacturer Dell held the first place.

Second on this year`s list is the coffee giant Starbucks, which rose from 5th place last year. Toyota, gained six places from 9th place to third this year. Warren Buffett`s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, was forth after arriving 7th last year. South-West Airline dropped from third place to sixth, and FedEx, which was placed second place two year ago, remained in the sixth place, like in 2005. Apple, which didn`t make it to the top ten last year was placed at 7th place. Google, another new addition to the Top-10 list, was placed 8th, while Johnson & Johnson took 9th, after being named the 6th most admired last year, Procter & Gamble closed the top-10 list, after loosing ground from last year`s fourth place. Microsoft, which was placed 10th in 2006, was pushed down to 12th, while Dell, which was 8th, last year, hasn`t even made the list.

The Top-10 most admired companies internationally include Toyota second, Procter & Gamble third, Johnson & Johnson at fourth, Apple fifth, Berkshire Hathaway sixth, FedEx 7th, Microsoft 8th, the German automotive manufacturer BMW 9th and PepsiCo closed the list at ten. The ranking is based on 8 evaluation criteria, including, innovation, people skills, use of company assets, social responsibility, management quality, financial stability, long-term investments and productservice quality.