What's the world's best run public company?

[glenn1]

My vote is in for Southwest Airlines. What's yours?

 

[pulse8]

Ebay?

 

[IJump]

Is southwest the airline that does bizarre (but fun) things with their employees?

If they are, they get my vote. If they aren't, the airline that does gets my vote.

 

[Evadman]

Anything but Home Depot.

 

[ultimatebob]

I know that both Merck and IBM were once voted as America's favorite companies. I find that odd, as I know people who worked at both places. Both of them constantly complained about how much the management sucks!

 

[FoBoT]

in what perspective? you mean exectutive management?

GE has made a ton of money in the last 10-20 years

 

[b0mbrman]

Probably Compaq...

 

[milagro]

Being that the objective of a public company is profit, the best company is the one with the most money - Microsoft. Monopoly you say? Fine moved down the list to the next company with the most capital---what is it these days- GE?

 

[datalink7]

Microsoft?

 

[UltraQuiet]

Proctor and Gamble is good. Pfizer maybe.

 

[RaKO]

GE all the way

 

[Ameesh]

with $39 billion in cash reserves id have to say Microsoft

 

[Michael]

GE has the best and most consistent system for developing and promoting quality management. They're my vote for the best run public company.

Michael

 

[Vadatajs]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
in what perspective? you mean exectutive management?

GE has made a ton of money in the last 10-20 years

And shafted Schenectady, there's a dark side to GE.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Vadatajs

And shafted Schenectady, there's a dark side to GE.

i used to work at the Schenectady GE site

but i was a contractor

 

[MC]

Microsoft

 

[StattlichPassat]

Southwest Airlines, closely followed by Wal-Mart.

EDIT: Oh yeah, GE is another great one.

 

[Utterman]

Wal-Mart

 

[eplebnista]

Wal-Mart

 

[tweakmm]

Enron

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: pulse8
Ebay?

BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ebay's business model in so many words:

We have a corporation getting rich off the backs of the sellers, legitimately and illegitamately, while the percepion of a safe purchasing community is being purported towards the bidders.

Its the perfect business model.

 

[Chi11yDog]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
with $39 billion in cash reserves id have to say Microsoft

The one with the most money wins.

 

[Mani]

Best run would be a toss up between a few companies for me.

GE has been a rock since Welch came on board- fiercely competetive, shrewd, and picks its battles to win. It's so widely diversified and large yet amazingly has relatively little beaurocracy because of the way it is structured.

Dell has been a model business success story in sheerly outplaying its competition. It's smarter, stronger, and quicker than its competition. Which is amazing considering the cutthroat nature of its industry and the fact that it was an unknown name to most people 10 years ago.

SW Air manages to pay its employess the WORST salaries in the airline business and yet has the HAPPIEST employees in the airline business. You just have to respect a company that can do that. Not even to mention the fact that it has been a financial model airline and epitomizes efficiency.

Companies like MS and Cisco wouldn't qualify as the best run for me because they won their success based on being the first ot market with a killer product. As a result they were able to all but monopolize them and derive enormous margins. A company like MS can run itself like crap and still bring in billions because of the strangehold it has on PCs.

 

[Maetryx]

I'd like to add Alaska Airlines to the list of really good public companies. They truly bend over backward to make folks happy, and AFAIK people are happy working there. They serve some of the most unconventional areas in the country.

 

[amdskip]

Walmart, ehhh....good business practices but the employee part can be shady. They know how to build stores that are efficient. Most of the drywall in the back of the store never gets finished. Phones on every other register. They know whats up.