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CHAPTER 9 • STRATEGY REVIEW, EVALUATION, AND CONTROL 297

Published Sources of Strategy-Evaluation
Information
A number of publications are helpful in evaluating a firm’s strategies. For example,
Fortune annually identifies and evaluates the Fortune 1,000 (the largest manufacturers)
and the Fortune 50 (the largest retailers, transportation companies, utilities, banks,
insurance companies, and diversified financial corporations in the United States).
Fortune ranks the best and worst performers on various factors, such as return on
investment, sales volume, and profitability. In its March issue each year, Fortune pub-
lishes its strategy-evaluation research in an article entitled “America’s Most Admired
Companies.” Eight key attributes serve as evaluative criteria: people management;
innovativeness; quality of products or services; financial soundness; social responsibil-
ity; use of corporate assets; long-term investment; and quality of management. In
October of each year, Fortune publishes additional strategy-evaluation research in an
article entitled “The World’s Most Admired Companies.” Fortune’s 2009 evaluation in
Table 9-7 reveals the firms most admired (best managed) in their industry. The most
admired company in the world in 2009 was Nike, followed by Anheuser-Busch, Nestle,
and Procter & Gamble. 9
Another excellent evaluation of corporations in America, “The Annual Report on
American Industry,” is published annually in the January issue of Forbes. It provides a
detailed and comprehensive evaluation of hundreds of U.S. companies in many different
industries. BusinessWeek, Industry Week, and Dun’s Business Month also periodically pub-
lish detailed evaluations of U.S. businesses and industries. Although published sources of
strategy-evaluation information focus primarily on large, publicly held businesses, the
comparative ratios and related information are widely used to evaluate small businesses
and privately owned firms as well.

TABLE 9-7 The Most Admired Company in Various
Industries (2009)
Industry The Most Admired Company
Apparel Nike
Beverages Anheuser-Busch
Consumer food products Nestle
Soaps and cosmetics Procter & Gamble
Credit card services Visa
Insurance Berkshire Hathaway
Megabanks Bank of America
Forest and paper products International Paper
Pharmaceuticals Johnson & Johnson
Petroleum refining Exxon Mobil
Electronics General Electric
Food services McDonald’s
Railroads Union Pacific
Motor vehicles BMW
Industrial and farm equipment Caterpillar
Airlines Continental Airlines
Aerospace and defense United Technologies
Metals Alcoa
Source: Based on Adam Lashinsky, “The World’s Most Admired Companies,” Fortune
(March 16, 2009): 81–91.