Corporate: Apple, Google top BusinessWeek's first annual list of 'The World's Most Influential Companies'

Apple, JPMorgan Chase, and Wal-Mart are among the top companies listed on BusinessWeek's special report on "The World's Most Influential Companies." Others on the list include Google, News Corp., and Saudi Aramco.

The companies on this year's list of "The World's Most Influential Companies" have devised winning strategies in their industries and are the ones with game-changing ideas, the greatest impact on consumers, and the bold tactics rivals emulate. Apple has gained a cultlike following because it somehow manages to breathe new life into every category it touches. Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, as the only player willing and able to significantly vary production, plays a critical role in the health of economies worldwide. And biotech food giant Monsanto has revolutionized farming since introducing genetically modified seeds in 1996.

To compile the first annual list of "The World's Most Influential Companies," BusinessWeek worked with an advisory board of 14 academics, consultants, and industry leaders worldwide, including Shelly Lazarus, Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. The choices were more art than science, but the companies that emerged are those BusinessWeek believes have played a major role in the world of business over the past year and could shape the corporate landscape for years to come.

"The World's Most Influential Companies" is featured in BusinessWeek's December 22, 2008 issue, on newsstands December 12th and online at www.BusinessWeek.com.

"The World's Most Influential Companies"

* Apple
* Google
* Huawei
* JPMorgan Chase
* Monsanto
* News Corp.
* Saudi Aramco
* Toyota
* Unilever
* Wal-Mart

Source: BusinessWeek

Published by Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting
Putting principles before profits
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