Survey Shows Apple Most Innovative Company; Global Brand Value Up Over $1B

July 21st, 2005 at 3:00 PM - News by Brad Gibson

Apple is the worldis most innovative company, according to a poll of 940 senior business executives from around the world.

The poll, commissioned by BusinessWeek magazine, found 24.84% of execs in 68 countries believe the Mac and iPod maker is the best company with innovative products and services. Apple beat out second place 3M, who came in with 11.77% of the vote.

Microsoft placed well back in third position with 8.53%.

"(Apple CEO) Steve Jobs has turned Apple into the paragon of the creative corporation," BusinessWeek editors wrote. "Companies throughout the world are deconstructing Appleis success in design and innovation, and learning the lessons."

The poll was conducted by the Boston Consulting Group for Business Week.

The poll results of the top 20 most innovative companies in the world were:

Apple Computer - 24.84%
3M - 11.77%
Microsoft - 8.53%
General Electric - 8.53%
Sony - 5.94%
Dell - 5.62%
IBM - 5.29%
Google - 5.18%
Procter & Gamble - 4.21%
Nokia - 4.21%
Virgin - 4.00%
Samsung - 3.89%
Wal-Mart - 3.24%
Toyota - 3.02%
eBay - 2.92%
Intel - 2.70%
Amazon - 2.70%
Ideo - 2.16%
Starbucks - 2.05%
BMW - 1.73%

In a related story also in Business Week magazine, Apple moved up two positions to 41st among the top 100 global brands for 2005

Apple moved up from 43rd in 2004, 50th in 2003 and 2002, and 49th in 2001. Appleis brand value reached US$7.985 billion in 2005, up over $1 billion from $6.871 billion the year before. The change in brand value was 16%.

Coca-Cola retained its first place position with a brand value of $67.5 billion.

Business Weekis table ranks the top 100 global brands that have a value greater than $1 billion. The brands were selected according to two criteria: They had to be global in nature, deriving 20% or more of sales from outside their home country, and had to have publicly available marketing and financial data on which to base the valuation.