Corporate reputation is typically the measure through which investors assess the overall perception of business practices, past and present, and decide how that business will continue to flourish and improve upon its reputation.
When it comes to Fortune Magazine, reputation is defined not by investors, but by executives, directors and analysts asked to rank companies in their own industry on nine criteria, from investment value to social responsibility.
And for the second year in a row, the healthcare industry has ranked HCA the number one Most Admired Healthcare Company in 2012.
Fortune magazine's survey partner, the Hay Group, takes 1400 companies made up 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. Then those companies are separated into their respective industries and executives, directors and analysts are asked to rank companies in their own industry on nine criteria, from investment value to social responsibility.
The nine attributes are: innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services and global competitiveness.
Since healthcare's inclusion in the industry rankings in 2000, excluding 2005 when the industry was not ranked, HCA has made the top ten every time.
It's no easy feat to get to the top of Fortune's Most Admired list. Editors of the 2012 edition reported, “Top spots grew harder to keep as more than half of the number one rankings changed hands.”
You can see HCA's stats here. The stats on the Fortune website go back to 2006.
Congratulations HCA!