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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Anheuser-Busch is not just beer…they also own several amusement parks (SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, the new Aquatica, etc) through which they provide services. And while not everyone has to love their beer, they have almost 50% market share in the US, so it’s not insane that they’d be on the list.
UPS is on the “Most admired” list, but Comcast is nowhere to be found on the “Least admired” list.
Methinks Fortune’s survey methodology is a little suspect. Perhaps they could use a link to the “Worst Company” stories here.
@k6richar:
Using Coors and, worse, Coors Light as representatives of American style lager (whether you like the style or not) is probably an unfair straw man.
It would be like me taking Labatt Blue or Molson Ice, pointing out their mediocrity, and telling you to try some real beers, like Newcastle or Chimay. Not really fair, is it?
I like Intrex Computers (NC only company)
–Good Prices
–Good Service
–Good Selection
I hate Apple
–Form > Function logic
–Ungodly overpriced products
–Too proprietary in all areas of their products
Id be willing to bet the high ratings for Budweiser have a lot more to do with advertising and perception as opposed to the way their beet actually tastes. All that money they spend on Superbowl commercials has to count for something. and remember…this is perception, not necessarily reality. Otherwise Sam Adams would be placing in from of Bud.
United Package Smashers? They’re ok, but Fed Ex would seem to have a better image (to me anyway).
Nordstrom, PG and John Deere make sense. Would like to have seen Toyota up there. Maybe even Panasonic.
I’m surprised Sprint isn’t on the list of worst companies. Can we put all the businesses complicit in causing the housing crash in there too?
I think is actually kind of funny because I just started working for Kirby Vacuums and they were saying how great their products are and that they’ve been around for 95 years because they have such a good brand name. But I guess the fact that they don’t do any major advertising and sell products that cost 2 grand they aren’t very well known anymore.
@BronzeHammer: Very true. There’s some very good American beers, but, like anything mass-produced, Bud and Coors ain’t it. I’m rather fond of Sam Adams (especially since I started getting their seasonal varieties — good, good stuff), Stone (still haven’t tried their flagship Arrogant Bastard Ale, but the rest of their stuff is quite nice), and Sierra Nevada. Movaje Red is good too, if a bit gritty.
How did UPS get on that list? I know so many people, myself included, who will go out of their way to avoid dealing with them. What turned me off?
A while back I had UPS deliver a package to my office… only,it didn’t go as planned. You see, I had had packages delivered to my old office by UPS before without a hitch. Seems that they still had this address on file (mind you I had been at my new job for about 3 years at this point).
The address on the package was correct, my telephone number was there… they decided that it wasn’t such a good idea to call if they became a little confused – it was sent to the old office.
I’m just glad that I hadn’t changed my phone number in the time between leaving the old employer and starting up at the new one or my former co-workers probably wouldn’t have gotten a hold of me.
- The End -
@44 in a Row: Wow! You’re right. I didn’t know either; I have a bottle right in front of me and it doesn’t say Coors or Molson anywhere on it.
Okay, as a brewer myself (of good beer), I need to at least say that it is incredibly hard to produce such a watered down, light, flavorless beer and have it come out consistently. This takes amazing skill on AB’s part – and I mean that seriously. Beer wants to be darker color – just google for Maillard reaction. So assuming that’s what you WANT in the first place, AB does it very well.
@agiorgio: ::facepalm:: Duh. Thanks.
USAA; Mag Instruments; Washington Post Company; Apple; Microsoft; General Electric; Honda; Nikon; Zwilling J.A. Henckels; Samsung; NPR; PBS; and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Captain Morgan all the way.
@Gann: Glacéau was acquired by Coca Cola in 2007
To whomever said DeWalt, they’re owned by Black & Decker.
I’d put Porter Cable ahead of DeWalt. And Panasonic has a much better 18volt system than DeWalt. Panasonic uses a much better battery (NiMH) and has more torque than DeWalt, with a better clutch system.
Most Admired:
Target
Marriott. Superb customer service. I am a platinum traveller, and genuinely enjoy staying at Marriott properties.
For airlines, I pick Delta. United, American, US Airways, and Northwest have really let customer service go down the toilet. Delta, several years ago, had grouchy employees, but they have really turned it around.
Least Admired
Best Buy (They only care about making a profit. They don’t care about customer service. They have done nothing to foster customer loyalty. As such, I do not set foot in Best Buy.)
Comcast (If ANYONE offered broadband in my neighborhood for MORE money and had even slightly better service, I’d switch in a second.)
“martial arts = good”
“Prime minister of Malaysia = bad”
@magic8ball: Tied for 6th place.
As for my ‘list’: Any company that pays for naming rights to an event (think college bowl game or any other event), a stadium (like the new shitti field here in the big apple), museum (sorta like Cisco Sports Museum also here in NYC, although that are listed as a founding sponsor), or any other item, is a bad company. To me, the selling and buying of naming (and ‘presenting’ as in the Rose Bowl, presented by Citi) rights is the same as the world’s oldest profession and I’m not talking about a bakery. I go out of my way to cut off my nose to spite my face and not patronize companies that think, oh we named the game, you should buy our cell phone. Sorry, not gonna happen. Wouldn’t be prudent.
As for good a company, Tiffany’s has always given me excellent customer service. How do I prove they only gave me 11 champagne glasses and one was cracked when I paid for 12? I just told them and then they looked up my order (and no, I didn’t have my receipt, as I had gone in to the store just to ask what I would have to do) and in 5 minutes the agent came out with the blue box with 2 new glasses.
As for companies I have not seen listed yet that I’m suprised about:
Chik-fil-a (you should read Truett Cathy’s book), Navy Federal, USAA.
On the Beer Snob/Hillbilly debate: I think some of you are confusing taste and quality. They are exclusive traits.. Sarusa has it right.. You may not like the taste of the American macros but AB’s quality is actually very very good. That and their public image, as much as you guys complain about their watered down beer, is very good as well. What, with all the horses, and dogs, and frogs.. and the ability to speak with animals.
Oh. and don’t forget about Busch Gardens.. I mean, with AB you get roller coasters! How could you vote against roller coasters? You are communists aren’t you?
Most Admired
Apple
Toyota
Nike
Least Admired
Home Depot
Sears
Walmart
My most admired, off the top of my head:
- Sun Microsystems
- Vertex Standard (Yaesu Amateur Radio)
- Kenwood Amateur Radio
- Tor Publishing
- Mitutoyo
- Astron
- MFJ Enterprises
- Celestron
- Lowes
- DigiKey
Least Admired:
- Microsoft
- Jiffy Lube
- General Motors
- Sears
- WalMart
- Home Depot
- Monster.com
I love how US Airways is between two dollar store chains. They’re certainly in august company.
My most admired:
Netflix
Zappos
Toyota
Lowes
Target
Tivo
Least admired:
AT&T Wireless
Home Depot
US Airways
Walmart
Time Warner Cable
@Bladefist:
Hey, there’s no way to reproduce a true Belgian lambic. They got different wild yeast!
Also, I admire Zappos!
@Mistrez_Mish:
I can explain that one.
Your name was saved as a “consignee” for your old work address. This is done to help the computer system to match up a garbled or incorrect address by using the “consignee” or addressee name.
Although your new address was correct on the printed label, the shipper has to also input the address into the system. Many many times, the shipper fails to input the address, or types it incorrectly, or on the wrong lines, or whatever.
So the computer system can’t recognize the address, but does recognize the name, which had been stored under your old address, and the package is incorrectly routed to the address the system has saved.
Or the computer doesn’t recognize either, and flags it for a person to correct manually; but that person doesn’t have the package in front of them (because these corrections take place before the package has arrived at the delivery center) only the computer data, so all they can find is your old saved address. See?
Now, if your old workplace had refused the delivery, then it would have gone to a person who could read the label, see what error was made, correct it, and then report the error and the person responsible, if any, to management.
@Noris: Thats funny because Jones Soda has always been about some jerk face posing for a picture on the label. It’s kind of been their thing from day one.
Newegg! I know they get always get a lot of good press on here, but I can really never say enough good things about them. They’re so far beyond any other electronics dealer online, they deserve the recognition.
Oooh ooh! Beer snob here! Oh wait, there’s no actual beer on either list!
Proctor & Gamble, yeah I can see that. Lots of things to help around the house. Herman Miller and those sodding chairs and flimsy cubicles concerns me.
Feel sorry for Amtrak as I used them to go from Dallas to Charlottesville via Chicago. It was a hard slog but I had fun seeing a lot of the US I’ll never see again.
If I were to think of a company that’s done me right and would recommend in a flash (there is one). ABF U-Pack have been on time for drop-off and pick-up. The drivers and phone staff and courteous and efficient. My goods arrive pretty much how I packed them, and I’m not a pro.
And on the opposite end, Tuffy Muffler for flashing the friendly face of franchise mechanics while attaching a muffler that would shake itself loose and fitting spark-plug wires that turned my car into a stuttering heap.
Most admired:
newegg
amazon
least admired:
comcast
citibank
That is utter rubbish. How can a company that introduced the frost brew liner AND the vented can score 9 for innovation?
Looking at the most admired, it’s easy to see for me that if you meet someone that works at one of those companies, they always talk very positively about their job and how much they enjoy it. Try finding someone at Dollar General that loves their job…
That being said… my most admired:
Nintendo
Anheuser Busch
Least Admired:
Sprint
Wal Mart
I love lists
Most Admired
Apple
Zappos
Netflix
Costco
Target
TiVo
Least Admired
Comcast
Microsoft
Amtrak*
*Least admired doesn’t do my feelings towards Amtrak justice. I fucking hate them. Plain and simple. I’ve waited three, four, five hours for trains. Often, their trains will stop for hours on end for no reason. I hate them so much, but they’re the cheapest option to get from campus to home. And I hate it. I hate that I’m forced to pay $35 to be treated like a piece of shit. I hate Amtrak so much!
UPS customer service made me want to put an icepick through my hand some days. Once they delivered a package I shipped to a random gas station because “it was the closest to the address they could find.”
@johnva: That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the list. Anheuser-Busch #1, Coors -#1? That outcome is a little too good to be true.
I’m trying to think of companies I admire… I really am… but I’m not sure I would really use the word to describe the brands I like. Nintendo has made its share of stupid moves, like not using disc format for the N64 and neutering online play on the Wii. I mostly shop at Target because they’re not Wal-Mart. There are plenty of companies I hate, of course, but they’ve mostly been covered by the Worst Company contest.
The very first thing I thought when I saw this post was:
“Pisswasser, this is beer!”
But that’s because I’ve been playing GTA IV.
budweiser? really? Geeez that beer is the most disgusting beer in the market
Nordstrom rocks. Their salespeople alone make it my favorite place to shop. They don’t ignore you, but they don’t annoy you, either. They are actually helpful, no matter how much you’re spending. Very smart strategy. It’s made me a loyal customer.
How is Family Dollar and Dollar General on the “least” list? Isn’t their business model to sell crap at cheap prices?
Ditto on BofA.NOT an American bank!
Who cares about Bud, Coors,or smarmy cheap wine.
I like Miller High Life, cause that is all it say’s it is.
If any of you knew just how much “American” companies are being taken over by foreign investers, you would realize that we are not “America” anymore. At least in the corporate sense. Goods and services are only used for the maximized profits that can be taken out of the USA.
If you can’t hear that sucking sound, you have a vacuum between your ears.
@Bladefist: Yeah, but if you use them for things other than the reader, you’d like them. Plus, I don’t care what the size is if I’m on my computer at work.
Most admired: Whole Foods, Honda, Apple, Netflix
Least admired: BoA, any other financial “institution”, K-Mart, Comcast
@Gann:
PS: Coke owns Glaceau
Admired:
Disney
Sprint (for their SERO plan)
Doc Martin
Microsoft (for the Zune and Xbox Live)
Gamestop (for their occasional sales)
Asic Shoes
Sirius
That’s all I have for now….
Honestly, something smells off about this. Somehow Bud is the most admired with Coors being the least admired. Seems like the fix was in on this one. Bud certainly isn’t that good and Coors surely isn’t that bad. To be honest you can never trust Fortune magazine. They often seem to have their own agenda.
@Tightlines: There’s a notable difference between being a “beer snob” and realizing that just because it’s beer doesn’t mean it has to be good.
Bud sucks, but I’m not surprised at it being in there. It’s a rather bland beer, cheap. That’ll always make for popular drink. Gets you drunk, it’s sure to be inoffensive to the average taster, and you don’t need to pay $4.5 per bottle.
why do you guys like toyota so much? (serious question.)
Like there’s really a difference between Coors and Bud? They’re both water.
Most admired:
1. ) Apple
2. ) Nintendo
3. ) Panasonic
3. ) Colgate/Palmolive (for making Ultra-brite)
4. ) Taiyo Yuden
5. ) Pepsicola (including Frito Lay)
6. ) Procter & Gamble (yes, they make great stuff)
7. ) Wal*Mart. Say what you will but they save me money and their store brands are great.
8. ) Nikon
9. ) Capcom
10.) New Balance (making sneakers in the USA is a BIG deal to me.)
Least Admired:
1. ) USPS
2. ) NORTEL! Their products are so fussy and particular and their support is HORRIBLE!
3. ) BenQ (I got a DVD-RW drive DoA and the basards told me I should just buy a new one. I did … of another brand!)
4. ) HP
5. ) Sears/Kmart. I used to like both, now they both suck.
6. ) LG – Goldstar with a new logo is still Goldstar crap.
7. ) Thompson (RCA) I like my things to not die in a year.
8. ) Aldi – I like their cheap prices but not their “move it buddy” attitude and zero customer help.
9. ) RIAA
10.) Gamestop – I’ll buy used games but I won’t sell them anything. Also, I’d like it if they didn’t open my games before I want to buy them.
@magic8ball:
Magic8ball: The asterisks denote a tie between the two companies.
I’ve said this before, and will say it again. Consumerist should have a Best Company in America contest to balance the Worst, if it doesn’t already. With all the time spent here exposing awful companies and their horrible business practices, it would be nice (and informative) to know which companies readers really appreciate.
blech, budweiser. apparently americans are idiots.
Adobe and UPS … who paid for that?
Good:
*Adobe (I do graphic design and take photos, so without PSP, I would be shot)
*Centennial Wireless – have NEVER had a problem with them
*GFS – I work there and really do like how they treat their customers AND workers – WITH respect.
Bad:
*Macy’s – I am from the Chicago area
*Gap – they treat their customers and workers like crap IMO
*Walmart
*BestBuy