Fortune's Global 2006 Most Admired Companies

Which companies in the world have the best reputations? Among those surveyed, here's the top 10 global companies:

1. General Electric
2. Toyota Motor
3. Procter & Gamble
4. FedEx
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. Microsoft
7. Dell
8. Berkshire Hathaway
9. Apple Computer
10. Wal-Mart Stores

So it's GE again for the overall ranking as well as in the electronics industry. J&J is global's #5 and the leader in the pharmaceutical industry. And of course, Toyota leads the motor vehicle industry.

The leaders for most admired for managing talent:
1. Procter & Gamble
2. General Electric
3. Walgreen (really, Walgreen the stores?)

The most admired for innovation:
1. Apple Computer
2. Procter & Gamble
3. Walt Disney

It seems that P&G is a good place to work....

The Most Admired list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations. Our survey partners at Hay Group started with the FORTUNE 1,000 -- the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue -- and the top foreign companies operating in the U.S. They sorted the companies by industry and selected the ten largest companies in each.

To create the 65 industry lists, Hay asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate companies in their own industry on eight criteria, from investment value to social responsibility. This year only the best are listed as most admired: A company's score must rank in the top half of its industry survey. Ranks for the rest of the contenders are available online only.

To create the top 20 and overall list of Most Admired Companies, Hay Group asked the 10,000 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the ten companies they admired most. They chose from a list made up of the companies that ranked among the top 25% in last year's survey, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry. The difference in the voting rolls is why some results can seem anomalous -- for example, FedEx is one of the top ten Most Admired Companies but only second in its own industry.