Building and maintaining a positive reputation is imperative to the success of any business. In fact, this alone can be the difference between failure and success. Below is a list of the top 10 companies that have well and truly mastered this as they have been voted the most admired of 2012 by over 4,000 professionals who were asked to select their top 10 companies by Fortune and Hey Group.
1) Apple
After the passing of Steve Jobs, many questions were raised concerning how this would impact the future of the company. However, under new CEO Tim Cook’s guidance, Apple continued to prosper in 2012 as annual revenues climbed to $108 billion, iPad sales increased by 334% and shares soared by 75%.
2) Google
Google’s constant battle with social media giant, Facebook has seen them make several acquisitions and improvements to their services over recent years. With major updates to the likes of Gmail, YouTube and Google Reader as well as the launch of their very own social network, Google+, the world famous brand’s hard work paid off as they were voted the second most admired company in the world.
3) Amazon
As High Street shops continue to struggle as more and more people conduct their shopping online, it comes as no surprise that companies like Amazon are continuing to thrive. What may be setting Amazon apart from other large tech companies however, is that they are comfortable sacrificing profits in the short-term for long-term gains such as opening new fulfilment centres.
4) Coca Cola
Despite the fact that the soda industry is struggling, Coca Cola has managed to retain their power and lead the industry in market shares. Although sales of the original Coca Cola brand have slowed down in North America, the company has cleverly decided to expand the brand beyond sugary sparking beverages and new products such as Powerade have helped the Coke brand to grow globally.
5) IBM
There were celebrations all round as IBM reached its 100th anniversary with a record annual profit of $15.9 billion. Despite the obvious fact that Information Technology is the way forward, the company’s success was largely down to healthy revenue growth in countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China as well as in business analytics and cloud services.
6) FedEx
Like most companies, FedEx has suffered from some recession-related setbacks. Furthermore, the ever-increasing cost of fuel is an additional challenge that the company continues to face. Determined to beat the odds, the global carrier has added more efficient aircraft to their fleet and as a result, their net income was up by 76% compared to the same period the year before and stock was also up 9% year-to-date.
7) Berkshire Hathaway
It is thought that Berkshire Hathaway remains one of the most admired companies in the Fortune 500 because of its very successful CEO, Warren Buffett. Also voted business person of the year in 2011, it appears as though the entrepreneur’s outspoken views about taxes and investing in stocks is well-respected by the American population.
8) Starbucks
Since returning to the company in 2008, Starbucks’ original founder, Howard Schultz restored the iconic company and took it to new heights in 2012. As well as taking steps to raise funds for job creation, the company posted record revenue and profits.
9) Procter & Gamble
Like a lot of companies, Procter & Gamble has had to make big changes in order to adapt to a challenging and competitive consumer market. In a bid to offset these problems, the company has cut jobs and focussed on growing its business overseas which accounted for 80% of the company’s sales growth.
10) Southwest Airlines
Many airlines face a constant battle trying to keep fuel prices down and Southwest Airlines is no exception. Despite having to raise the price of its flights in order to keep in line with oil prices, the airline still beat their expectations for earnings in their fourth quarter thanks to their incredible reputation for being low-cost yet reliable.
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