Innovation, Where Are You Going?
BusinessWeek just released their annual lineup of Most Innovative Companies of 2008. The ranking is done via a collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group, using a mixture of survey methodology and analysis of business results.
Here’s the list :
1. Apple (no surprise here)
2. Google (again, no surprise)
3. Toyota Motor (in the era of the near-bankrupt auto companies, definitely a clear winner)
4. Microsoft (still holding its head up)
5. Nintendo (the Wii and the DSi have established momentum, but what’s their next big thing??)
6. IBM (i love the new smart planet campaign — a great way of harnessing opportunities from the global crisis)
7. Hewlett-Packard (has definitely reinvented itself under Mark Hurd’s leadership)
8. Research in Motion (blackberry has no plans of quitely bowing out to the iphone)
9. Nokia (world’s # 1 cellphone (and camera!) company stays on top)
10. Wal-Mart (undergoing a period of reinvention)
12. Procter & Gamble (AG Lafley, i’m a fan, despite being an ex-unilever alumni)
13. Tata (a model for developing countries on trickle-up innovation)
14. Sony (slipping, slipping …)
15. Reliance Industries (another model for developing countries)
16. Samsung Electronics (definitely on a warpath)
17. General Electric (ecomagination and imagination breakthroughs, anyone?)
18. Volskwagen (yum!)
19. McDonald’s (can’t say that i have a lot to say about this …)
20. BMW (the ultimate driving company)
21. Walt Disney (with the recent acquisition of Pixar, continues to ‘make people happy’)
22. Honda (…)
23. AT&T (that iphone deal was a kliler)
24. Coca-Cola (opening happiness everywhere)
25. Vodafone (…)
Where’s …
Facebook? (maybe when it turns a clear profit model …)
Starbucks? (has fallen out of favor with the business world … instant coffee as the recovery strategy ?!?)
Target? (has Wal-Mart won?)
Amazon? (i’m craving that Kindle …)
Cisco? (…)
—
Just a parting thought.
The most intriguing thing about this report is something i find very telling, although slightly off-tangent.
You see, the Innovation report this year wasn’t THE front cover of BusinessWeek. This has happened for the first time since the list started coming out a few years back.
No doubt about it, this whole global crisis has really dampened enthusiasm for the i-word. In fact, an analysis from a related article in the report qualifies it.
Everybody’s on short-term keep-our-heads-above-the-water mode.
Hmmm. Can’t say i’m happy about that.
