While it’s our job to name the Worst Company In America, BusinessWeek has decided to identify the world’s best businesses, tapping management consultant firm A.T. Kearney to rank the world’s best companies.

Nintendo took the crown, while Google is the highest-rated American company at No. 2 and Apple close behind at 3. In all, 14 American companies made the cut, with ExxonMobil sneaking in at No. 38. That’s what a year without a major oil spill will do for you.

The rankings criteria:

To create the list, A.T. Kearney examined the 2,500 largest publicly listed companies in the world. Kearney’s team singled out those with a minimum of $10 billion in sales in 2008, at least 25% of which came from outside the company’s home region. It then ranked the companies on their sales growth and value creation-the rise of market capitalization after subtracting any increase in capital-over the past five years. This year, the list expanded to 40 companies from the 25 Kearney ranked in the past.

No word on whether Nintendo gets something better than our golden poo trophy.

World’s Best Companies 2009 [BusinessWeek]
(Photo: blue_j)

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