10 Best Companies
What happens when leaders follow great management principles and strong corporate values?

J.P. Morgan has graced Fortune’s most admired companies list five times during the past twenty years and has recently combined with Chase Manhattan to create JPMorgan Chase, a leader in the financial services industry with assets of over $1.1 trillion and operations in more than fifty countries. One of the primary reasons for the company’s success is its people, and one of the primary reasons for the success of its people is the company’s commitment to employee recognition and employee incentive programs. JPMorgan Chase makes its commitment to employee motivation clear in the wide variety of benefits and employee reward programs it offers to all employees at all levels. Here are a few examples: backup child-care; concierge services for travel, repairs, and deliveries; employee counseling services; health club memberships; and flexible work schedules. The company has made employee recognition and reward a priority, and the results in terms of employee retention, fulfillment and productivity are readily apparent.

For our 10 Best Companies list we're using Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list for 2006 as our starting point.

  1. General Electric
    Justifiably heralded for its now-legendary “workout” sessions, in which employees meet together in groups with complete freedom to raise all sorts of concerns in front of their bosses, but without their bosses being allowed to deny or ignore a single issue.
    Read more.
  2. FedEx
    FedEx executives believe profit is a by-product of solving customer problems, and it shows. This company’s 200,000 employees know how to solve customer problems, current and future. Employees are “expected to act like entrepreneurs” and “thrive upon the challenges” that result from solving customer problems on a daily basis.
    Read more.
  3. Southwest Airlines
    Southwest Airlines built itself upon a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. Their dissatisfaction worked, creating an airline with more than $6 billion in revenue, 3,000 flights a day, 35,000 employees, more than 30 consecutive years of profitability in an industry famous for its losses, and “the airline industry’s best cumulative consumer satisfaction record.”
    Read more.
  4. Proctor & Gamble
    Through ups and downs, Proctor & Gamble’s profound respect for others and their individuality fosters an unusually high level of trust that facilitates astonishingly open and candid discussions about mistakes, failures, and avenues for improvement.
    Read more.
  5. Starbucks
    $5 billion in revenues, with 75,000 employees, and almost 9,000 locations around the world, the company’s future dreams and imaginings envision 30,000 locations in the near future with a whole new spin on digitally hot hangouts. Starbucks dreams big.
    Read more.
  6. Johnson & Johnson
    With $50 billion in sales, more than 110,000 employees, and operations in 60 countries, Johnson & Johnson continues to win accolades from around the world for its professionalism and excellence. Johnson & Johnson thrives on listening to all viewpoints inside and outside the company, making the behemoth as nimble as a start-up company in the marketplace.
    Read more.
  7. Berkshire Hathaway
    By all measurements, Berkshire’s performance has been nothing short of amazing. The company’s secret? Berkshire makes it perfectly clear to operating managers, potential acquisitions, and shareholders what matters most to the company. There is no doubt or questioning or uncertainty, and politics and manipulation are kept to a minimum.
    Read more.
  8. Dell
    This $30 billion powerhouse embraces much more than the traditional, narrower definitions of diversity; it nurtures an underlying commitment to diversity of thought, leadership, skill set, style, and solutions.
    Read more.
  9. Toyota Motor
    As Anthony Faiola of The Washington Post puts it, "Toyota is poised to overtake ailing General Motors this year as the world's largest automaker in terms of units sold. It is a title, industry experts say, that the 69-year-old company could win through a combination of efficiency, flexibility, quality control and, most importantly, an uncanny sixth sense for what consumers want."
    Read more.
  10. Microsoft
    At Microsoft, nothing is impossible. This nothing is impossible attitude fuels the company’s constant challenging of assumptions and biases on a daily basis. In addition to this pervasive attitude is the passion for using technology to “learn faster, achieve more, simplify your life and have more fun.”
    Read more.

The following companies have appeared at least five times on Fortune magazine’s annual list of America’s most admired companies during the past twenty years (the number in parenthesis identifies the number of years on Fortune’s list):

  • Coca-Cola (13)
  • Rubbermaid (11)
  • Wal-Mart (10)
  • Procter & Gamble (10)
  • 3M (10)
  • Merck (10)
  • Johnson & Johnson (9)
  • Microsoft (9)
  • General Electric (8)
  • Intel (8)
  • Boeing (7)
  • Hewlett-Packard (6)
  • Berkshire Hathaway (6)
  • Southwest Airlines (5)
  • IBM (5)
  • Home Depot (5)
  • J.P. Morgan (5)
  • Dow Jones (5)

    • Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For, 2006:

    1. Genentech
    2. Wegmans Food Markets
    3. Valero Energy
    4. Griffin Hospital
    5. W.L. Gore & Associates
    6. Container Store
    7. Vision Service Plan
    8. J.M. Smucker
    9. Recreational Equipment (REI)
    10. S.C. Johnson

    Have you witnessed management malpractice?
    Tell us your story!

    Copyright © 2005 • Management Malpractice LLC • All rights reserved

    Home | FREE EZINE | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

    Start a revolution in your organization today!
    See It, Expose It, Prevent It!
    Management Malpractice LLC
    15 Brown Avenue
    Athens, Ohio 45701