America's Most Admired Companies 2008

Top 20 Most Admired Companies

To create the top 20, Fortune and its survey partners at Hay Group asked the experts -- in this case, more than 3,700 people from dozens of industries -- to select the 10 companies they admire most. This year's winners all have strong records of innovation, leadership, and financial strength -- and their employees know it.

7 of 20

FedEx

Top 20 rank: 7
Rank in Delivery and Logistics: 2

With fuel costs rising, it may be FedEx's environmental efforts that matter most these days. Aside from hybrid vehicles, which are becoming key across the industry, the company has also focused on solar energy; a new installation at its Oakland hub generated 80% of the facility's energy demand.

It's that kind of innovation, says CEO Fred Smith, that has made "FedEx" a household verb. And it shows no signs of exiting the lexicon anytime soon. The $35.2 billion company experienced its busiest day ever in December, handling 11.4 million packages. -Nadira A. Hira

See how FedEx rates in 8 key areas

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Last updated March 03 2008: 2:10 PM ET