The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies


Special Report: Inside Innovation

Slide Show: The World's 50 Most innovative Companies

In a climate when innovation efforts and research and development budgets are likely to see more scrutiny than ever, our 2008 list of the World's Most Innovative Companies adds three financial measures to the mix to determine the rankings. For this year's list, votes cast in the proprietary BusinessWeek-BCG survey received 80% of the overall weighting, stock returns were weighted 10%, while three-year revenue and margin growth each got 5%. While these changes -- only votes from our survey counted in the past -- marked the biggest shift yet in our rankings of the World's Most Innovative Companies, there are some similarities to previous years. Once again, Apple's design whizzes lead our list, followed by Google’s search geniuses and Toyota's hybrid car mavens. But the added financial metrics and the greater diversity of our survey, which polled more global and C-suite respondents than ever also helped to produce a few big changes. Global names such as Tata Group and Nintendo, both making their first appearance, landed in the top 10. Traditional innovation icon 3M plummeted from No. 7 to No. 22. And dark horses such as No. 18 General Motors, which has suffered through a tumultuous year financially, received a surprising number of votes thanks to concept cars like the electric Chevrolet Volt and the Detroit automaker's renewed focus on design. For a full explanation of our methodology, click here -- and see the footnotes at the bottom of the table.


Click column heading once to reorder from highest to lowest. Click twice to reorder from lowest to highest.
Rank
Company
HQ Country
HQ Continent
Revenue Growth
2004-07*
(in %)
Margin Growth
2004-07*
(in %)
Stock Returns
2004-07**
(in %)
Most Known for its
Innovative...
(% who think so)
1 APPLE  USANorth America47 69 83 Products (52%)
2 GOOGLE  USANorth America73 5 53 Customer Experience (26%)
3 TOYOTA MOTOR  JapanAsia12 1 15 Processes (36%)
4 GENERAL ELECTRIC  USANorth America9 1 3 Processes (43%)
5 MICROSOFT  USANorth America16 8 12 Products (26%)
6 TATA GROUP  IndiaAsiaNANANAProducts (58%)
7 NINTENDO  JapanAsia37 4 77 Products (63%)
8 PROCTER & GAMBLE  USANorth America16 4 12 Processes (30%)
9 SONY  JapanAsia8 13 17 Products (56%)
10 NOKIA  FinlandEurope20 2 35 Products (36%)
11 AMAZON.COM  USANorth America29 -11 28 Customer Experience (33%)
12 IBM  USANorth America1 11 4 Processes (31%)
13 RESEARCH IN MOTION  CanadaNorth America56 -1 51 Products (37%)
14 BMW  GermanyEurope6 -5 11 Customer Experience (40%)
15 HEWLETT-PACKARD  USANorth America10 17 35 Processes, Business Models, and Customer Experience (27% each)
16 HONDA MOTOR  JapanAsia12 6 14 Products (40%)
17 WALT DISNEY  USANorth America6 14 7 Customer Experience (63%)
18 GENERAL MOTORS  USANorth America-2 -98 -11 Products (55%)
19 RELIANCE INDUSTRIES  IndiaAsia31 -7 94 Business Models (31%)
20 BOEING  USANorth America9 32 21 Products (63%)
21 GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP  USANorth America30 6 28 Processes and Business Models (33% each)
22 3M  USANorth America7 5 3 Products (45%)
23 WAL-MART STORES  USANorth America10 -2 -2 Processes (48%)
24 TARGET  USANorth America11 3 NACustomer Experience (67%)
25 FACEBOOK  USANorth AmericaNANANACustomer Experience (51%)
26 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS  South KoreaAsia2 -14 8 Products (42%)
27 AT&T  USANorth America43 6 23 Customer Experience (33%)
28 VIRGIN GROUP  BritainEuropeNANANACustomer Experience (47%)
29 AUDI  GermanyEurope11 11 41 Products (50%)
30 MCDONALD'S  USANorth America7 -7 25 Customer Experience (42%)
31 DAIMLER  GermanyEurope-11 37 28 Products (35%)
32 STARBUCKS  USANorth America23 -2 -13 Customer Experience (60%)
33 EBAY  USANorth America33 -37 -17 Business Models (28%)
34 VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS  USANorth America12 NA9 Services (41%)
35 CISCO SYSTEMS  USANorth America20 -5 12 Products (35%)
36 ING GROEP  NetherlandsEurope7 4 11 Services (41%)
37 SINGAPORE AIRLINES  SingaporeAsia9 5 20 Customer Experience (55%)
38 SIEMENS  GermanyEurope1 21 22 Products (41%)
39 COSTCO WHOLESALE  USANorth America11 -5 14 Customer Experience (46%)
40 HSBC  BritainEurope12 -1 4 Services (39%)
41 BANK OF AMERICA  USANorth America12 NANACustomer Experience and Services (23% each)
42 EXXON MOBIL  USANorth America11 7 25 Processes (50%)
43 NEWS CORP.  USANorth America4 4 4 Business Models (47%)
44 BP  BritainEurope14 -5 11 Processes (42%)
45 NIKE  USANorth America8 -1 14 Customer Experience (43%)
46 DELL  USANorth America7 -12 -17 Business Models (37%)
47 VODAFONE GROUP  BritainEurope7 -21 15 Business Models (33%)
48 INTEL  USANorth America4 -10 6 Products (53%)
49 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES  USANorth America15 9 -9 Customer Experience (50%)
50 AMERICAN EXPRESS  USANorth America3 1 3 Customer Experience (35%)


DATA: Analysis and data provided in collaboration with the innovation practice of the Boston Consulting Group and BCG-VaueScience. Reuters and Compustat were used for financial and industry data and Bloomberg for total shareholder returns.

*Compound growth rates for revenue and operating margins are based on 2004-07 fiscal year data as originally stated. Operating margin is earnings before interest and taxes, as a percentage of revenue. Where possible, quarterly and semiannual data were used to bring performance for pre-June yearends closer to December, 2007. Financial figures were calculated in local currency.

**Stock returns are annualized, 12/31/04 to 12/31/07, and account for price appreciation and dividends.

***Calculating three-year compound annual growth rate for operating margins was not possible when either figure was negative.