The World's Most Innovative Companies by Region
This year's list of the world's most innovative companies was decided by a respondent pool that was more global than ever. So which companies do survey participants from different regions think are the most innovative? Check out our top regional winners.
| Asia Votes | Europe Votes | North America Votes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple | 1 | Apple | 1 | Apple |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 3 | Toyota Motor | 3 | Toyota Motor | 3 | Toyota Motor |
| 4 | Tata Group | 4 | Microsoft | 4 | General Electric |
| 5 | Nintendo | 5 | Nintendo | 5 | Procter & Gamble |
| 6 | Nokia | 6 | General Electric | 6 | Microsoft Corp |
| 7 | General Electric | 7 | Amazon.com | 7 | Nintendo |
| 8 | Reliance Industries | 8 | Tata Group | 8 | Research In Motion |
| 9 | Microsoft | 9 | Nokia | 9 | Disney |
| 10 | Sony | 10 | Procter & Gamble | 10 | IBM |
| 11 | Samsung Electronics | 11 | BMW | 11 | General Motors |
| 12 | IBM | 12 | Sony | 12 | Amazon.com |
| 13 | Hewlett-Packard | 13 | IBM | 13 | Tata Group |
| 14 | Procter & Gamble | 14 | Audi | 14 | Honda Motor |
| 15 | 3M | 15 | Hewlett-Packard | 15 | Sony |
| 16 | Goldman Sachs Group | 16 | Boeing | 16 | Target |
| 17 | Honda Motor | 17 | Goldman Sachs Group | 17 | Hewlett-Packard |
| 18 | McDonald's | 18 | Fiat | 18 | Boeing |
| 19 | BMW | 19 | 19 | BMW | |
| 20 | 20 | 3M | 20 | Wal-Mart Stores | |
DATA: The regional lists are determined by votes from more than 2,950 senior executives in the 2008 BusinessWeek-Boston Consulting Group survey, along with financial measures provided by Reuters, Compustat and Bloomberg. To determine our ranking, votes cast in our survey were weighted 80%, three-year margin growth and revenue growth were each weighted 5%, and three-year stock returns were weighted 10%.
Revenue and operating margin growth is annualized based on 2004-2007 fiscal year earnings before interest and taxes, as a percent of revenues as they were originally stated. 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 were annualized, 12/31/04 to 12/31/07, and account for price appreciation and dividends.