The Smartest 100 Companies of 2006

LEAD STORY:
Which companies are the smartest?
Using public financial data companies have reported over the past three years, Baseline contributor Paul A. Strassmann has developed a formula that can be used to rank companies by how smart they are. The formula is another way to evaluate how well an information-technology department is supporting an organization.

THE LIST: Real estate, technology, financial services, biotech and pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and media corporations top the list of the smartest companies.

DOWNLOAD THE RANKINGS: Download the list of the 100 smartest companies, available as a PDF.

DO IT YOURSELF: How smart is your company? Figure it out using this step-by-step interactive worksheet.

SMART COMPANY PROFILES

EBAY: Portable applications propel the online auctioneer.
MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT: Tracking the appeal of Spider-Man and other characters through business analytics powers the bottom line.

INDUSTRY RANKINGS

  • The Smartest Biotech Companies
  • The Smartest Financial Companies
  • The Smartest Media Companies
  • The Smartest Oil Companies
  • The Smartest Real Estate Companies
  • The Smartest Technology Companies

    QUESTION: Which metrics do you think are indicators of a company’s brains? Write to: [email protected].