1st Dec 2008 - 00:00
Abstract
The hospitality industry's biggest players have been named as the most admired companies, with drinks firm Diageo topping the list.
The awards, which are now in their 15th year look at various criteria including; quality of management, financial soundness, quality of goods and services and community and environmental responsibility. Using responses from board level representatives, as well as analysts and City commentators, the survey is a peer review of corporate reputation, as seen by a company's most clued-up critics: its competitors. Analysts at leading City investment firms are also polled. Respondents rate the other companies in their own sector using the criteria on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being very poor, 10 being excellent). Diageo, which makes Bailey's and Archers was named number one because its "…emphasis on premium brands and rejection of cheap drinks have earned it credibility with governments and pressure groups." Others winners from the hospitality sector were ranked: Unilever – 3rd InterContinental Hotels – 14th Cadbury – 18th Whitbread – 20th Wetherspoon – 31st Greene King – 32nd Compass Group – 56th Bunzl – 85th Mitchells & Butlers – 88th Britvic – 89th Punch Taverns – 215th Premier Foods – 224th Mathew Gwyther, editor of Management Today, which compiled the 'Most Admired Companies' list said that the credit crunch had turned this year's list into a game of snakes and ladders but that "…there is still so much to admire about British companies."