Dive Brief:
- Fortune released its annual World's Most Admired Companies list, compiled by surveys of upper management and analysts. More than a dozen food and beverage companies made it on the list of 340 companies spanning 54 industries.
- Coca-Cola (No. 15), Nestle (No. 38), Unilever (No. 41), and PepsiCo (No. 44) were ranked in the Top 50 companies, but all four companies dropped in ranking from last year.
- Other honorable mentions include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Archer Daniels Midland, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Danone, Diageo, Dr Pepper Snapple, General Mills, Ingredion, Mondelez, SABMiller, Suntory, and Tyson.
Dive Insight:
Food and beverage companies make up a relatively small percentage of companies on this list, particularly when compared to industries like technology and financial. It shows that this industry has catching up to do in areas like innovation, investment value, and social responsibility.
On a 10-point scale with 1 as the highest score, Coca-Cola scored a 3 or higher on all of the nine key attributes of reputation except innovation, where it received a 5. The company's only score of 1 was in social responsibility, thanks to efforts like water conservation and the creation of plant-based PET bottles. The company's management quality and global competitiveness also ranked highly, suggesting industry players feel positively about the several management changes Coca-Cola made last year.
Nestle topped the CPG industry rankings with scores of 1 across all attributes except social responsibility, for which it received a 2. Nestle's social responsibility score may have been hurt by incidents like the issue over its water bottling operations in drought-stricken California or the discovery of labor abuses in the Thai seafood arm of its supply chain.
Ranking No. 3 in the beverage industry, PepsiCo also received scores of 2 and 3 across all attributes, though it didn't receive a score of 1 in any category. Industry players admire the company for its quality of management, including highly respected CEO Indra Nooyi, who made The Daily Meal's America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food for 2016 and Fortune's Most Powerful Women list for 2015. PepsiCo also scored high in financial soundness and long-term investment value, which demonstrates the industry's confidence in Nooyi's vision for company growth.