… Microsoft again came second only to General Electric as the world’s most respected company among chief executives. Bill Gates is considered the world’s most respected business leader, for the third year, among business leaders surveyed in the latest edition of the Financial Times/PricewaterhouseCoopers World’s Most Respected Companies study.
IT and consumer electronics companies feature heavily in the list with 11 entries in the top 50 most admired corporations. HP made major strides up the “most respected” table, up 19 places to number 10. Meanwhile Carly Fiorina was the only woman to make the list, slotting in at number eight behind Gates and Michael Dell (number five). Fiorina is credited for successfully integrating Compaq into HP.
Microsoft’s domination of the IT market was respected by many of the 915 chief execs in 25 countries quizzed as part of the survey. “They [Microsoft] are so dominant and successful,” one awe struck respondent said. The tactics that allowed Microsoft to dominate the software industry might be criticised elsewhere but not by business leaders, some of whom openly declared their admiration for Microsoft’s “monopoly” status. Apart from HP and Microsoft other IT companies to make the list included: IBM (4), Dell (6), Sony Ericsson (21), Siemens (23), Canon (25), Nokia (26), Intel (38), Samsung (32) and Apple (42).
[Via The Register]
