Big 50 Companies Airgas, Grainger, And Wolseley Named 'Most Admired' By Fortune

The reputation-based list is categorized by industry, including diversified wholesaler, industrial machinery, and electronics and office equipment wholesaler.

On Monday, Fortune Magazine unveiled its 2015 "World's Most Admired Companies," a reputation-based ranking of companies around the globe. The diversified wholesaler category included six companies, three of which are on Industrial Distribution's 2014 Big 50 List.

The diversified wholesaler category companies are, in alphabetical order:

  • Airgas (No. 8 on Big 50, score: 5.43)
  • Genuine Parts Company (5.47)*
  • Graybar​ (score: 6.57)
  • Grainger (No. 3 on Big 50, score: 7.27)
  • Rexel (score: 6.06)
  • Wolseley (No. 1 on Big 50, score: 5.4)
    *Motion Industries (No. 9 on Big 50) is GPC's industrial business.

The industrial machinery category companies are, in alphabetical order:

  • ABB (score, 7.46)
  • Alstom (score, 6.67)
  • Dover (score, 7.42)
  • Illinois Tool Works (score, 7.54)
  • Ingersoll Rand (score, 7.61)
  • Parker Hannifin (score, 7.5)

The electronics and office equipment wholesaler category companies are, in alphabetical order:

  • Ingram Micro (score, 6.38)
  • Arrow Electronics (6.64)
  • Avnet (6.51)
  • Tech Data (6.18)

The overall annual list features a top 50 list. This year's was topped in order by Apple, Google, Berkshire Hathaway, and Amazon.com. Companies that weren't included in the overall top 50 did not have a ranking assigned to them.

The list's methodology uses nine key attributes of reputation: Innovation, People management, Use of corporate assets, Social responsibility, Quality of management, Financial soundness, Long-term investment value, Quality of products/services, and Global competitiveness.

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