Every year, Booz & Co presents a report listing the most innovative companies of that year, Apple occupying the first position for the third consecutive year. Apple is followed by Google and 3M, two companies that kept their position in 2010, but on the fourth place we find those from Samsung who took the place of the General Electric company, and on the 6th place we find Microsoft which , from my point of view, it should be above the Koreans who "borrow" something from everyone.
This year, Apple didn't just top the rankings (as it did the past two years); it increased its lead substantially. The company — which in August 2012 became the most valuable in history, measured by market capitalization — was named by almost 80 percent of respondents as one of the three most innovative companies in the world, up from 70 percent last year. Apple's unchallenged position comes in a year marked by the death of the company's founder and chairman, Steve Jobs, and by the absence of any truly new product introductions.
The interesting part is that compared to previous years, Apple has strengthened its leadership position, spending much less money on research and development than Google, Amazon, Microsoft or Toyota. Even though Apple was named the most innovative company in the world, in the last year we did not see truly revolutionary products, but only products whose technologies already existed, but were greatly improved. Until now, Apple has acted based on the specifications left by Steve Jobs and it will be interesting to see how it will do next year.
