Goodyear is Fortune’s most admired vehicle parts company

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has been recognised as the world’s most admired motor vehicle parts company by Fortune magazine. The tyre maker rose from third place last year to top the current category list on the 2014 World’s Most Admired Companies list, and was ranked first within its category in five of the nine the key evaluated attributes: people management, use of assets, social responsibility, long-term investment and product/service quality. Goodyear’s overall score was 7.09. Michelin, the only other tyre maker named in the motor vehicle parts category, dropped two places since last year to number six and gained an overall score of 5.93.

“This recognition is a credit to the hard work of 69,000 Goodyear associates around the world,” said Richard J. Kramer, Goodyear chairman and chief executive officer. “It validates the success of our strategy roadmap and serves as a meaningful mile marker on our journey toward creating sustainable value.”

Neither Goodyear nor Michelin secured a berth in the overall top 50 list of Most Admired companies. The top slot was once again filled by Apple, exactly as it was for the previous six years. Apple gained an overall score of 7.94. Amazon and Google swapped places this year, with the former climbing a place at the latter’s expense.

The Fortune Most Admired began in 1983 and draws its candidates from the Fortune 1,000 – the 1,000 largest US companies ranked by revenue, and the Fortune Global 500 database of non-US companies with revenues of US$10 billion or more. The 15 largest companies for each international industry and ten largest for each US industry are then selected for further evaluation; this ratio of US to international firms has led some to claim the Most Admired list is skewed in favour of US-based companies.