The group of companies that make up the Baseline 500 are special—and this year, they are even more so. To determine who makes our annual ranking of the best corporate managers of information, we started, as we did last year, with a list of publicly traded companies. But instead of looking at one year of financial results as in the past, we examined five years.
From there, we determined each company's Information Value-Added score, which is profit left after subtracting the cost of capital invested by shareholders. And then we looked at Information Productivity, or IP, which is Information Value-Added divided by a company's costs—selling, general and administrative expenses. IP scores determine the Baseline 500 ranking.
Story Guide:
The List: The 500 Companies That Manage Information Best
Slide Show: The Top 25 Information Managers
The Baseline 500: Leaders by Industry and Revenue
Who Led the Baseline 500 and Why
5 Steps to Improve Your Information Productivity
Do It Yourself: Figure Out Your Company's Information Productivity
The Baseline 500: A Special Honor
Company Profiles: Lessons from Five Leaders in the 500
Chesapeake Energy: Looking Out For No. 1
Topping our ranking for the second straight year, Chesapeake Energy has fired up a group of enterprise projects to keep its competitive edge.
Plus: Chesapeake Energy's CEO on Working Without an I.T. Budget
Ruby Tuesday: Turning The Tables
Ruby Tuesday's Nick Ibrahim ordered up new technology practices to improve his restaurant chain's business processes.
Winnebago Industries: Road Rules
Creating and adapting homegrown software Is the key to winnebago's drive for business Self-sufficiency.
Washington Mutual: Integration Is Non-Negotiable
Most banks do a lousy job of integrating systems after a merger. Washington mutual gets it done within nine months—by standardizing on its own technology.
American States Water: Liquid Assets
An automated document-management system has kept American States water from drowning in a sea of paper.
Download PDFs of the Baseline 500:
Ranked By Information Productivity
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Ranked By Company Name
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Ranked By Company Size
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Projects: Management 
