Merck on list of most-admired
Wednesday, February 24, 1999
By LOUIS LAVELLE
Staff Writer
Merck & Co., the Whitehouse Station-based
pharmaceutical giant, made Fortune magazine's list
of the 10 most admired companies in America on
Tuesday, but New Brunswick-based Johnson &
Johnson wasn't so lucky.
Johnson & Johnson slipped from No. 9 to No. 12
in the overall ranking, but came in at No. 3 behind
No. 2-ranked Merck in the pharmaceutical
ranking, which reads like a who's who of New
Jersey industry.
The results, which were reported in the March 1
issue of Fortune, were based on a survey of more
than 10,000 corporate executives, directors, and
securities analysts. They were asked to rate the
companies in eight areas: innovativeness, quality of
management, employee talent, quality of products
and services, long-term investment value, financial
soundness, social responsibility, and use of
corporate assets.
Topping the list was General Electric, which was
the most admired company in America in 1998 as
well, followed by No. 2-ranked Coca-Cola and No.
3-ranked Microsoft.
Merck, which moved up a notch from its No. 10
berth in 1997, did not win the highest marks in any
of the eight areas the companies were judged on,
and in the pharmaceutical ranking it lost its
longtime No. 1 spot to Pfizer, the maker of Viagra.
But its 1998 returns, 41.3 percent, exceeded those
for four of the top 10, including General Electric.
And its five-year returns, 37 percent annually,
exceeded those for six of the top 10. In both cases,
Merck outperformed the S&P 500, which had
1998 returns of 27.1 percent and five-year returns
of 23.5 percent a year.
A spokeswoman for Merck said Tuesday the
company has had a place in Fortune's top 10 list
for 15 of the last 17 years, including a seven-year
stretch from 1986 to 1992 when it occupied the
No. 1 spot.
"Merck is honored to earn a spot on Fortune's
coveted top 10 most-admired list," said the
spokeswoman, Tracy Stenn. "Our ranking speaks
to the confidence that the leaders in corporate
America have in our company's innovativeness
and ability to discover and develop new medicines
that improve patient health worldwide. It also is a
testament to our high caliber of employee talent,
the quality of our products and services, and the
financial soundness we continue to offer our
shareholders."
Johnson & Johnson spokesman John McKeegan
said he was perplexed by his company's slip in the
rankings, which wasn't explained in the article.
"Certainly we're happy to be No. 12, and certainly
next year we want to be up in the top 10," he said.
"Obviously there are quality companies out there
that are part of the survey. This is something all
companies take as a source of great pride, to see
how other companies view them."
While Johnson & Johnson slipped, other local
companies fared well in the rankings.
AlliedSignal of Morristown ranked No. 1 in the
aerospace category; Campbell Soup of Camden,
Bestfoods of Englewood Cliffs, and RJR Nabisco
Holdings of Parsippany ranked No. 3, 6, and 7,
respectively, in the food category; Lucent
Technologies of Murray Hill ranked No. 2 in the
electronics category, and Automatic Data
Processing of Roseland ranked No. 2 in the
computer services sector.
New Jersey companies dominated the
pharmaceutical rankings. In addition to Merck and
Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb of
Princeton ranked No. 5, Schering-Plough of
Madison No. 6, Warner-Lambert of Morris Plains
No. 7, American Home Products of Madison No.
9, and Pharmacia & Upjohn of Bridgewater No.
10.
Toys "R" Us of Parmus, ranked No. 2 in the 1997
specialty retailers category, dropped to No. 10.
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