How the mighty have fallen. The Fortune magazine list of 100 “Most Admired” Companies is out this month, and Wal-Mart’s fortunes have continued to slide. Just a few short years ago in 2003, Wal-Mart was #1 on Fortune’s Most Admired list, but by 2005, the company had slipped to #4, and this year’s list, 2006, has Wal-Mart coming in at a most ignominious #12. Even in the category of General Merchandisers, Wal-Mart had to eat dust from #1 Nordstrom’s, and #2 arch-rival Target. Wal-Mart now has the distinction of being the only company to disappear from the Top 10 Most Admired list entirely. According to CNN, Wal-Mart’s slide is “due to growing criticism of the company and a slumping stock price.” Keep in mind that this Fortune Most Admired list is based on a survey of 10,000 executives, directors and securities analysts. They are asked which ten companies they admire the most. So this is really a “Most Admired on Wall Street” list, and hardly an accurate view of the public verdict against Wal-Mart. A Zogby poll published recently suggested that 55% of Americans hold a worse view of Wal-Mart over the past six months due to all the adverse publicity and “headline shock” the company continues to attract. Even with a phalanx of PR experts now bunkered in Bentonville, the world’s largest retailer can only dimly recall the days when it was the Most Admired. In the Fortune poll, respondents score their industry peers and rivals in eight categories — innovation, long-term investment value, financial soundness, management quality, social responsibility, use of assets and management of people. Later this spring, Fortune will issue its list of 100 Best Places to Work, a list nominated by actual workers at the corporations. It goes without saying, that Wal-Mart did not even make the top 100 last year, and probably won’t have to worry about getting on the Best Places to Work list this year either. It’s all part of Wal-Mart’s sagging Fortune.
For previous year’s stories on the Fortune “Wall Street Most Admired List” stories, search Newsflash by “Fortune.” Rest assured, that Wal-Mart can still say it’s #1 on at least one list: the Sprawl-Busters Most Reviled Retailers List.
