The rankings are derived from Fortune magazine's survey partner, Hay Group, who chooses 1400 of the largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue, non-U.S. companies with revenue of $10 billion or more and the top foreign companies operating in the U.S.
Those companies are then separated into their respective industries and executives, directors and analysts are asked to rank companies in their own industry based on nine criteria:
- Innovation
- People management
- Use of corporate assets
- Social responsibility
- Quality of management
- Financial soundness
- Long-term investment
- Quality of products/services
- Global competitiveness
Since healthcare's inclusion in the rankings in 2000, excluding 2005 when the industry was not ranked, HCA has made the top ten every time.
Click here for more details on the methodology used to create the list and here to view the complete 2013 rankings.