The World's Most Respected Companies - Apple is #1

Show a Little Respect, Please...

"In our (Barron's) sixth annual survey, money managers indicated the degree to which they respect—or don’t—the world’s 100 largest companies (by total market value as of Dec. 31, 2009). The most-respected companies tend to retain that distinction, though some of the least-respected names might surprise you."

Top 10 Most Respected companies in the world, according to Barron's, include:
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Berkshire Hathaway, Toyota Motor (Japan), McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).

There were more than 50 global companies that are highly respected (outside the U.S.A.). These include:
Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Nestlé, Novartis, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, InBev, Roche Holding, BHP Billiton, Siemens, BASF, SAP, Samsung Electronics, Unilever, BP, Daimler, Sanofi-Aventis, LVMH Moet Hennessy LV, Royal Dutch Shell, L’Oréal, Banco Santander, Suncor Energy, Statoil, Petroleo Brasileiro, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, AstraZeneca, Telefonica, Westpac Banking, Vodafone Group, Credit Suisse, HSBC Holdings, Total, Rio Tinto, Deutsche Telekom, Vale S.A., Allianz, China Mobile, E.ON, NTT DoCoMo, BG Group, BNP Paribas, Anglo American, Electricite de France, ENI, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, GDF Suez, Reliance Industries, ArcelorMittal, France Telecom, Industrial & Commerce Bank of China, UniCredit, British American Tobacco, CNOOC, China Construction Bank, UBS, Sberbank Rossia, Rosneft and Gazprom.

The Complete List of Top 100 Most Respected Companies:

’10 ’09 Company Mean-Score HighlyRespect Respect SomewhatRespect Don’tRespect
1 4 Apple 4.22 67% 26% 4% 1%
2 1 Johnson & Johnson 4.07 59% 34% 6% 0%
3 3 Procter & Gamble 3.82 46% 47% 3% 1%
4 14 IBM 3.7 49% 37% 11% 1%
5 2 Berkshire Hathaway 3.69 54% 30% 11% 4%
6 8 Toyota Motor (Japan) 3.67 47% 33% 13% 1%
7 7 McDonald’s 3.67 41% 43% 10% 0%
8 23 Google 3.66 50% 34% 14% 1%
9 10 Cisco Systems 3.65 43% 39% 10% 1%
10 NR Amazon.com 3.55 40% 43% 9% 3%
11 NR Honda Motor (Japan) 3.52 36% 39% 13% 0%
12 5 Wal-Mart Stores 3.49 41% 41% 17% 0%
13 9 Coca-Cola 3.48 31% 54% 9% 0%
14 16 Intel 3.48 31% 56% 9% 0%
15 13 3M 3.48 33% 54% 7% 1%
16 19 Nestlé (Switzerland) 3.44 29% 53% 9% 0%
17 12 PepsiCo 3.43 31% 50% 11% 0%
18 6 Exxon Mobil 3.43 37% 50% 10% 3%
19 11 United Parcel Service 3.39 31% 50% 13% 0%
20 20 Walt Disney 3.29 29% 56% 11% 1%
21 26 JPMorgan Chase 3.26 39% 36% 20% 3%
22 22 Microsoft 3.26 36% 44% 14% 4%
23 24 United Technologies 3.25 29% 46% 17% 0%
24 15 Abbott Laboratories 3.25 27% 50% 16% 0%
25 17 Hewlett-Packard 3.18 29% 46% 17% 1%
26 27 Schlumberger 3.09 29% 43% 21% 1%
27 30 Novartis (Switzerland) 2.9 20% 46% 19% 3%
28 53 Qualcomm 2.81 17% 46% 26% 0%
29 25 Amgen 2.78 20% 44% 24% 3%
30 NR Goldman Sachs 2.76 39% 24% 19% 16%
31 45 Bayer (Germany) 2.69 14% 44% 24% 1%
32 42 Visa 2.69 19% 44% 27% 3%
33 32 Merck 2.64 16% 50% 27% 3%
34 NR Royal Bank of Canada 2.58 14% 43% 30% 1%
35 31 Chevron 2.55 14% 49% 27% 4%
36 38 GlaxoSmithKline (U.K.) 2.53 6% 56% 23% 1%
37 NR Anheuser-Busch InBev (Belgium) 2.48 17% 29% 36% 1%
38 41 Roche Holding (Switzerland) 2.47 11% 43% 29% 3%
39 39 Oracle 2.39 11% 49% 29% 6%
40 51 BHP Billiton (Australia) 2.39 10% 37% 31% 1%
41 64 Siemens (Germany) 2.38 6% 50% 23% 4%
42 NR BASF (Germany) 2.36 6% 49% 27% 3%
43 54 SAP (Germany) 2.34 13% 34% 31% 4%
44 48 Samsung Electronics (S. Korea) 2.33 9% 44% 29% 4%
45 35 Unilever (Netherlands) 2.33 10% 37% 31% 3%
46 28 ConocoPhillips 2.32 10% 40% 37% 1%
47 62 BP (U.K.) 2.28 7% 46% 37% 1%
48 NR Daimler (Germany) 2.28 16% 26% 37% 4%
49 21 Wells Fargo 2.24 11% 43% 37% 6%
50 67 Sanofi-Aventis (France) 2.13 4% 44% 33% 4%
51 47 Verizon Communications 2.1 10% 43% 33% 10%
52 NR LVMH Moet Hennessy LV (France) 2.05 3% 41% 33% 4%
53 61 Royal Dutch Shell (U.K.) 2 6% 34% 43% 3%
54 55 Pfizer 1.99 9% 40% 37% 10%
55 75 L’Oréal (France) 1.98 7% 33% 39% 6%
56 77 Banco Santander (Spain) 1.97 9% 33% 40% 7%
57 NR Suncor Energy (Canada) 1.97 9% 26% 46% 3%
58 66 Statoil (Norway) 1.95 3% 36% 36% 4%
59 57 Petroleo Brasileiro (Brazil) 1.93 6% 34% 40% 6%
60 NR Commonwealth Bank of Aus. (Australia) 1.93 1% 39% 36% 4%
61 52 AstraZeneca (U.K.) 1.9 3% 37% 37% 6%
62 60 Occidental Petroleum 1.89 9% 29% 43% 7%
63 59 Telefonica (Spain) 1.85 3% 31% 49% 1%
64 NR Westpac Banking (Australia) 1.82 3% 31% 41% 4%
65 70 Vodafone Group (U.K.) 1.8 1% 36% 44% 4%
66 NR Credit Suisse (Switzerland) 1.77 7% 27% 47% 7%
67 63 HSBC Holdings (U.K.) 1.75 9% 24% 51% 7%
68 65 Total (France) 1.73 4% 30% 44% 7%
69 56 Philip Morris Intl. 1.72 11% 26% 33% 17%
70 NR Rio Tinto (U.K.) 1.71 3% 30% 46% 6%
71 78 Deutsche Telekom (Germany) 1.7 3% 30% 41% 7%
72 NR Vale S.A. (Brazil) 1.68 3% 24% 50% 3%
73 83 Allianz (Germany) 1.67 3% 27% 46% 6%
74 43 General Electric 1.64 11% 29% 39% 20%
75 68 China Mobile (China) 1.58 4% 27% 41% 11%
76 73 E.ON (Germany) 1.56 1% 23% 49% 4%
77 80 NTT DoCoMo (Japan) 1.55 1% 24% 47% 6%
78 NR BG Group (U.K.)* 1.54 3% 20% 46% 6%
79 NR BNP Paribas (France) 1.52 3% 24% 40% 10%
80 NR Anglo American (U.K.) 1.48 0% 21% 53% 3%
81 91 Electricite de France (France) 1.43 0% 20% 57% 3%
82 87 ENI (Italy) 1.41 0% 21% 50% 6%
83 82 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (Japan) 1.39 0% 24% 49% 9%
84 58 AT&T 1.38 4% 26% 51% 16%
85 88 Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (Spain) 1.36 1% 19% 51% 7%
86 94 GDF Suez (France) 1.33 1% 21% 43% 11%
87 92 Reliance Inds. (India) 1.29 0% 20% 51% 9%
88 NR ArcelorMittal (France) 1.21 0% 20% 49% 11%
89 90 France Telecom (France) 1.18 1% 14% 56% 10%
90 96 Indust. & Commer. Bank of China (China) 1.11 0% 21% 37% 17%
91 NR UniCredit (Italy) 1.11 0% 11% 59% 7%
92 89 British Amer. Tobacco (U.K.) 1.11 3% 17% 41% 19%
93 98 Bank of America 1.06 6% 19% 44% 27%
94 93 CNOOC (China) 1.04 3% 14% 44% 19%
95 97 China Construction Bank (China) 1 0% 19% 44% 19%
96 99 UBS (Switzerland) 0.93 4% 16% 39% 27%
97 NR Sberbank Rossia (Russia) 0.4 0% 6% 41% 29%
98 NR Rosneft (Russia) 0.32 0% 7% 36% 33%
99 100 Gazprom (Russia) 0.07 0% 4% 36% 43%
100 NR Citigroup -0.21 0% 4% 30% 63%

NR=Not Ranked.
Source: Barron's

"John Cregan, veteran money manager at Hotchkiss Associates, a unit of United Capital Financial Advisers, says he admires Apple because the company "is at the top of the list of seeing around corners. They aren't out there trying to find out what their customers want, but saying rather, 'Look at this advancement in technology. It enables us to do this. You might not want it yet or know what to do with it, but you will want it and we are going to build it."

Learn about Apple's innovation strategy... How does Apple innovate, and what makes it the #1 innovative company in the world? Learn more...

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

References:
Barron's: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB126601896024845345.html

Starbucks gets it right this time, partners with AT&T to provide Free Wi-Fi

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) announced plans to deliver AT&T Wi-Fi(SM) service at more than 7,000 company-operated Starbucks locations across the United States. Starbucks and AT&T will offer a mix of free and paid Wi-Fi offerings at Starbucks stores to meet the needs of both frequent and occasional Starbucks Wi-Fi customers.

AT&T benefits because "the initiative further expands the AT&T Wi-Fi network to more than 17,000 U.S. hot spots and more than 70,000 globally" thereby entrenching AT&T as the leader in hot spots and making it the ever ubiquitous brand for Internet and mobility.

AT&T is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index. Starbucks was a Top 20 Innovator in 2007.

Starbucks benefits because millions of customers will now flock Starbucks for coffee and free Internet. Importantly, for the first time, a Starbucks Card holder gets an added benefit of two hours of free Wi-Fi service per day! According to the press release: "Beginning this spring, Starbucks Card holders can enjoy up to two hours of free Wi-Fi service per day at Starbucks locations offering Wi-Fi access, while more than 12 million qualifying AT&T broadband and AT&T U-verse(SM) Internet customers will have unlimited free access to the Wi-Fi service. In addition, more than 5 million of AT&T's remote access services business customers will be able to access Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations."

Fringe revenue benefits: "In addition to the free Wi-Fi access for qualifying AT&T customers and any Starbucks Card holder, customers will be able to purchase tiered access to the AT&T Wi-Fi network at Starbucks at attractive price points. For a two-hour period, customers will pay just $3.99 per session. Monthly membership will also be available for $19.99 per month, and will include access to any of AT&T's 70,000 hot spots in 89 countries around the world."

Bottomline:

Rick Welday, AT&T chief marketing officer, Consumer emphasized: "Our work with Starbucks is collaborative innovation at its finest." Quite Possibly. What is Starbucks recipe for turnaround? Introduce $1 coffee, provide free coffee to loyal Starbucks customers who have a Starbucks card (coffee loyalty program), and offer free services such as the free Wi-fi to loyal customers. The new program will be a hit! As for AT&T, this is a huge marketing win, since it creates presence of AT&T in even more places and hot spots around the country and the world, provides AT&T customers nationwide Wi-Fi access and entrenches them further (not to mention increases customer loyalty), and has the potential upside of incremental revenue in the tens of millions.

Invest in the Innovation Index Fund

We launched the new Innovation Index Fund in December, 2007 that invests in the Innovation Index and returned 66% in 2007, and 174% in the previous five years. If you want to learn more about the Innovation Index Fund, fill out your contact information at the bottom of this form: http://www.innovationindexgroup.com/invest.html

The Innovation Index Reports:

Invest in The Innovation Index - Invest in the brand new Innovation Index Fund
Introducing The Innovation Index Fund - Invest into The Innovation Index
Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world - 2007 Report on Top 50 Companies
Annual Report - Chapter One - Total Innovation Activity - 2006 Annual Report One
Annual Report - Chapter Two - The Top Innovator - 2006 Annual Report Two
Annual Report - Chapter Three - The Innovation Insights - 2006 Annual Report Insights
Innovation and Stock Performance Correlation - The Innovation Index and Stock Performance
The Innovation Index gallops to 56% - Quarterly Report - Q3, 2007

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007, and returned 174% over the previous five years (2002-2006). This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index as of December 31, 2001. An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $454 as of December 31, 2007. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500 returned 28% or $129, $100 invested in NASDAQ returned 34% or $136, and $100 invested in the Dow Jones Index returned 30% or $131 through December 31, 2007. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by more than seven times over the past six years.

Alphabetical list of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index for 2008 and their stock ticker symbols:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
America Movil - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
AT&T Inc. - (NYSE: T)
Best Buy Co., Inc. - (NYSE: BBY)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Costco Wholesale Corporation - (NASDAQ: COST)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Merck & Co., Inc. - (NYSE: MRK)
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
NIKE, Inc. - (NYSE: NKE)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)

The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the Top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2008, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index.

Disclaimer: The Innovation Index Group, Inc. invests in the stocks comprising The Innovation Index.