World’s 25 Most Influential Companies
By Barry Ritholtz - December 27th, 2008, 4:00PM
World’s 25 Most Influential Companies:
1. Wal-Mart
2. Toyota
3. Saudi Aramco
4. JPMorgan Chase
5. Unilever
6. China Mobile
7. Microsoft
8. News Corp.
9. 3M
10. Apple
11. Google
12. Huawei
13. Monsanto
14. YKK
15. Nielsen
16. Jarden
17. Intuit
18. Autodesk
19. HCL Technologies
20. Japan Steel Works
21. Sirius XM
22. Facebook
23. SKS Microfinance
24. Li & Fung Ltd.
25. Craigslist
via Businessweek
Microsoft is more influential than Google and Apple?
China Mobile? Really?
And just how influential is JPMorgan Chase as a corporation, as opposed to it being part of the collection of overleveraged bank disasters?
December 27th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
msft ahead of goog and aapl is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I haven’t used a msft product since I was in high school. I use google every day. Multiple times every day.
December 27th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
MSFT ahead of AAPL makes perfect sense. It’s not what we prefer to use, but what most people use that matters. I would say it’s currently a tie b/n GOOG & Mr. Softee, w/ GOOG gaining ground rapidly & surpassing as I type.
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Some of the names on the list seem to be number of customers vs. how pervasive they are through world. China Mobile probably has more customers than any other mobile phone company, but their presence probably (I don’t know much about them) does go far beyond the borders of China. As for JPM, I would put C ahead of them and still they probably should not be in the top 10 (maybe, iffy, but maybe the top 25.)
Regards,
TDL
December 27th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Huawei but no Cisco? That seems odd; are they bigger / more important than Cisco?
December 27th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
MSFT installed OS base is what does it, Search histories and e-mails are one thing(GOOG), but a backdoor to the CPU? totally a different level..
Sirius XM, on that list, strikes me as odd, though–What am I missing?
and, Nielsen strikes me as overrated..
December 27th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
My toenail could put forth a better effort than Businessweek, and its lying on the carpet.
December 27th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Exxon Mobil should be somewhere. I wonder how they define influential?
December 27th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I work with msft and apple technology every day as a programmer. Sorry, but Micorsoft is miles ahead of apple in that sense. Not just better, but more of it, in more categories. Apple is basically a fashion company, that is not a swipe, it is a tough category to win in and they are doing it. So I can see them making the list, but for tech there are probably 10 companies ahead of it.
I would put a hat tip to Open Source there, I know it isn’t a single company, but it is a single influence, and a huge one (even apple is running on BSD!). I’m not a Linux diehard or anything, but there is a lot of good tech there, and it has a huge influence on the direction (and the business) of technology. It is kind of a CraigsList, but covering everything tech. There is a fine line between destroying wealth and being a very influential tech company – or maybe that is the same thing. Basically if you aren’t killing someone’s cash cow with 10 cent technology, you aren’t increasing productivity — in the tech world anyway…
Google is interesting, but it really really really really needs to get past searching and prove itself in a second market. Until then, definitely behind MS imo. Really.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Influence over whom? The question is too vague to even begin to approach an answer.
Influence over the US Government? Influence over state and local governments? Then it’s a very different list.
Influence over the consumer? Google dictates the first thing hundreds of millions of people see a day whenever they search on the internet. Is Wikipedia a company or a trust?
Facebook has no real “influence”, their content is entirely user generated. It’s like saying if I call 1,000 people and influence them in some way, that influential power is conveyed to my phone company.
The banks and lenders are probably those that appear most no matter how the list is based. Clearly they have plenty of influence with the government. They had the influence to create a debt bubble and now have the influence to lock down discretionary spending for many consumers by way of lowered credit card limits and less favorable terms.
What do Intuit really influence? They don’t decide any of the important “rules” that go into their products and if they diverge from those rules will find themselves in a huge mess. How can intuit be on the list and GE not on the list?
Bogus.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
The more I think about it, GE is probably the largest glaring omission from the list. Their influence extends way beyond the many businesses GE is in, which itself is influential enough.
There are so many Fortune 500 companies overrun with people trying to use the “GE Model”, with varying levels of success.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
JP Morgan and not Goldman Sachs? Isn’t Goldman the puppeteer behind the Bush administration?
The argument isn’t between Apple and Microsoft. Its between Google and Microsoft. The hype that is Apple is becoming apparent.
Huawei is on the list and Cisco isn’t. Surprising and revealing!
Intuit?
HCL Technologies? I’m not even sure if its the most influential Indian company – much less global.
Sirius XM? Even in Silicon Valley – land of the early adopters – Sirius XM subscribers are fairly hard to find.
Bluzer
December 27th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
DP:
re: Facebook, check this out:
Statistics
General GrowthMore than 140 million active users
More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older
User Engagement Average user has 100 friends on the site
2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
More than 13 million users update their statuses at least once each day
More than 2.5 million users become fans of Pages each day
ApplicationsMore than 700 million photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 4 million videos uploaded each month
More than 15 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each month
More than 2 million events created each month
More than 19 million active user groups exist on the site
International GrowthMore than 35 translations available on the site, with more than 60 in development
More than 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
PlatformMore than 660,000 developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries
More than 52,000 applications currently available on Facebook Platform
140 new applications added per day
More than 95% of Facebook members have used at least one application built on Facebook Platform
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
if you are aware of the, literal, brain damage caused by .ppt, and the awesome intel GOOG gathers, you’ll see the ‘in/fluence’ of fb..
December 27th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Exxon Mobil should be somewhere. I wonder how they define influential?
——————–
They would have been . . . in July. These lists are like People magazine’s “The World’s 100 Most Beautiful People”: here today, gone tomorrow.
December 27th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Sirius XM?
Would you say it was more influential at the recent 13 cents per share or was it more influential back in October at 25 cents per share?
I notice Mel hasn’t been talking lately about how share price is a “CEO’ s report card.”
December 27th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
You are what you eat….
ADM
December 27th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Barry,
Save the list and look at it again in five years. 70% will have failed.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Where’s Gazprom? C’mon, Intuit beats Gazprom? C’mon.
December 27th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
I love Facebook. It lets me know to avoid anyone with a facebook page…
December 27th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
“Google is interesting, but it really really really really needs to get past searching and prove itself in a second market.”
I would be inclined to say that Google has advertising on the Web, pretty much locked up. I do not know how much they make from search, but I have yet to pay for one with anything but my eyeballs. I know some companies do though, as I have worked with the production of some of their search appliances.
MS has the client OS, word processing and scheduling locked up right now, which is the only real place they make their money. But, I wonder how long a recession has to last before companies start to care about the 50$ for the OS and the 250$ for Office suite. I could see businesses like call centers switching to alternatives first.
December 27th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Facebook is more influential than Adobe? I think not.
December 27th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
The most influential company would have to be Saudi Aramco because it is the swing producer that controls global oil prices.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:02 am
No tobacco company?
Is there any other industry that carries higher healthcare cost?
I don’t see any big pharma either.
Silly list.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Not ONE weapons / defence manufacturer ?
Completely bogus list.
Me thinks that let’s say Ratheon is more influential than let’s say…Craigslist.
December 28th, 2008 at 4:22 am
HCL deserved to be in list given the innovative management style Vineet, the new CEO has introduced. moreover this company dares to be different from rest of the Indian company where CEO is accountable to the employees. Proud be an HCLite.