Each year Fortune magazine does a survey to determine America’s most admired companies. We took a look at their data and found the top 10 most admired companies for the quality of their products and services. We also found the least admired.
Oddly, beer topped each of the lists. Anheuser-Busch is the company most admired for the quality of its products, while Molson Coors is the least admired. The full lists inside.
The Top 10 Most Admired Companies Based On Quality of Products Or Services:
1 Anheuser-Busch
2 Nordstrom
3 Medco Health Solutions
4 John Deere
5 BMW
6* United Parcel Service
6* Adobe Systems
8 Fortune Brands
9 Procter & Gamble
10 Herman Miller
The Top 10 Least Admired Companies Based On Quality of Products Or Services:
1 Molson Coors Brewing
2 Amtrak
3 Dollar General
4 US Airways Group
5 Family Dollar Stores
6 Constellation Brands (Arbor Mist wine)
7 WellCare Health Plans
8 Amerco (parent company of U-Haul)
9 Northwest Airlines
10 Sears Holdings
What companies do you admire?
Best & Worst: Quality of Products And Services [Fortune]
(Photo: *nomad* )
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I tend to admire good people and beautiful places or things in nature; companies and their commoditized stuff, not so much.
But I guess to be a good commentor, I’d put National Geographic magazine up there. Rather undervalued, but top quality all around, always has been.
Others: Leatherman tools, Jones Sodas, LEGOs, Bicycle Playing Cards, Hohner harmonicas.
Toyota good, Honda bad.
I’m suprised Adobe Systems is on there. They annoy the hell out of me after every time I open something I get a pop up saying that there is an update ready to be installed.
I can’t believe Medco and UPS are in the admired list. Uhaul & Sears in the hate list, I would be distressed if they were not on that list.
Companies I admire? Nordstrom, Caribou Coffee, Micron pens.
I have always been happy with said product involved or never had service that I would consider a negative experience.
Throw Trader Joes in there for good measure.
Wait what? Budweiser is good? Its one of the worst tasting alcoholic beverages in existance! Did they only poll alcoholics who drink it because its piss poor cheap?
proctor & gamble can make it on the top quality list just by sheer volume of the products they are responsible for…
Cue beer snobs in 3…2…1…
BMW? For reals? I’ve always more closely associated them with assholes than quality cars.
On a side note, it always amazes me that people don’t know that Blue Moon is made by Coors.
Heh, I worked in 6 of the most admired companies in some capacity in the past.
@parad0x360: their ads suck too. get ready for Budweiser American Ale, coming in October!
Most admired companies:
Apple
Toyota
Least admired:
Bank of America
@44 in a Row: Thanks for the tip. I’ll remember not to buy it.
Adobe? Not to mention their Acrobat reader gains 30 megs every release, and yet, it still only reads pdfs (and fills your system with garbage)
@44 in a Row: Killians irish red is another one that people don’t know is made by Coors
Thanks for the tip. I’ll remember not to buy it.
I mean, I happen to like it just fine, and buy it when it’s not terribly expensive. But I had a friend who thought it was made by some small Belgian brewery.
@44 in a Row: There are a ton of great beers made by the huge breweries that they try to keep hidden. Half the marketing is “ooo its Belgian beer”
But realistically, who cares. The beer has less of a hike here, which makes it cheaper and taste better. The only thing you cant replicate from Belgium is their water.
Admired:
- Coca-Cola
- Paradigm Loudspeakers
- Pioneer Plasma Televisions
- Heinz Ketchup (the only Ketchup)
- Mott’s Apple Juice
Least Admired
- Pepsi
- Bose
- Monster Cable
- Wal-Mart
- Off-brand Toilet Paper
Did AB pay off Fortune or something? I can see that people would choose them on price, but they’re sort of like the Walmart of the beer world.
6* Adobe Systems ?!?!?!
W — T — F !!!
Admired for their buggyness? What?
3M. I’m not much for blind brand loyalty, but 3M products have beaten competitors every time I’ve dared to stray.
Budweiser would be completely useless if they didn’t provide my tailgates with Busch Light and Natty Light. Whichever 30-rack is cheaper the day before we go. Sure, it’s swill but it makes for good shotgunning and they KNOW it’s swill.
Most admired:
* Coca-Cola
* American Express
* Kenneth Cole
* Marriott
* MGM Mirage
Least admired:
* Pepsi
* Domino’s
* GM
* American Airlines
* UPS
* AT&T
* ESPN
* And, of course, Budweiser. Everything except Busch Light and Natty Light is swill trying to pretend it’s not.
Good:
Calphalon
Dewalt
Apple
Tempurpedic
Smartwater (glaceau)
Bad:
Walmart
Ikea
Best Buy
McDonalds (and all like it)
Coca-Cola (and all like it)
Oh and Adobe=good, at least for Illustrator and Photoshop.
I’m sure Bud only made the list because they came up with Bud Chelada.
Beer? That ain’t beer. I’ve had beer. Of course I was in Germany at the time. Light American beer is a redundancy. If Coors gets any lighter it’ll come right out of a kitchen faucet.
Boy, I’d sure like to get a look at the raw statistical data on this, etc. The real companies that conduct themselves honorably never make the list to choose from. Wonder why that is?
Medco is horrible. Did corporate shills vote for this?
I also love LEGO, but it’s not an American company. And say what you will about domestic beer, but AB is consistent, affordable and have several tasty brews.
Are we all doing our own lists now?
Good:
Enron
Dell
Countrywide
Bad:
I got nothing. I cant think of any bad companies. They’re all so great.
@Applekid: If you ignore the people who drive them (earpiece-telephoned polo-wearing tossers, the lot), BMW still make some of the best cars around.
I’m actually really surprised Apple isn’t on that list. Not that I’d put them there myself, but that they’re generally well-liked.
I would like to know what the asterisks are for next to UPS and Adobe.
I’m sorry, I have to chime in here for all the Bud haters. Anheuser Busch produces/distributes excellent products BESIDES Budweiser, like Becks, Corona, and Stella Artois. And they also own Sea World!
@parad0x360: I agree Budweiser is terrible terrible stuff!
Bud and Coors both suck. Support your local microbrewers and drink real beer!
Only companies I admire:
Nintendo
(They’ve provided me 22 years of entertainment)
Dr. Martins
(Comfortable and stylish)
Starbucks
(Yea, yea, I know, burnt coffee, destroys local shops, yadda, yadda. I drink my coffee with milk, so their coffee tastes just right to me.)
@magic8ball: Probably because they tied for sixth place.
Good:
Costco (neither a product nor service, however)
Apple
Bad:
Wal Mart (see Costco)
Fortune can go to hell – Molson is ambrosia from the gods…
Wonder if this study shows a correlation between Budweiser’s dominance of the gay market and the fact that Coors was run by the homophobe Adolf Coors.
@savvy9999: Jones Soda was fine before they put pictures of every jerkface mugging for the camera on their soda.
Maybe Anheuser-Busch made the list because of their amusement parks.
I have drunken my seasons pass worth of beer at SeaWorld this year. You know it’s free at their beer garden and they have some decent draft-only beers available there, plus my wife likes their bottled mojitos.
Oh yeah, Shamu is kinda kewl too.
In my personal experience, Apple tops the list.
What a strange list… The only one I admire is Adobe. Budweiser is horrible. Coors actually tastes good.
@linkura:
I didnt’ vote for any of these.
anheuser bush is a good company they let me into seaworld for free
I wonder if the criteria of this poll was asking just hillbillies. Loos like the priorities are beer, transportation, health and even lawn mowing.
Top of my list are Google, Apple, Target, Netflix and Whole Foods. Bottom of my list are every HMO, Wal-Mart, Bank of America and eBay.
There are plenty of products that I like… but as far as companies that I admire? That’s an incredibly short and hard-to-populate list, and is mostly filled with little companies. LesserEvil, I guess?
And who the hell would admire Anheuser-Busch based on “quality of products or services”? Their beer is f’n horrible!
Wow, my opinion of Fortune magazine has changed drastically from these lists…in the past I felt like I could count on the different Fortune lists…not anymore!!
Oh well…
Poor poor americans, try some other countries beers. In canada your coors is so light we call it coors light, your coors light doesn’t exist in canada.
I find it funny that Budweiser made it to the top, Coors is on the bottom. Its kinda like the Ford vs Chevy “debate.” Rivalry amongst domestic car brands is trivial, considering the competition from “foreign” cars. Same with beer, swill is swill.
Im not surprised with Coors with the bad reputation. THE BANQUET BEER? What the Eff kind of marketing is that?