The Chicago area boasts three companies in the top 50 of the Fortune 500, in the face of group mergers and closings that have seen the departures of once-venerable names such as Ameritech, Amoco, Quaker Oats and Standard Oil.
This year's Fortune 500 list, based on the nation's largest companies by returns, includes 33 Chicago and Illinois-based companies.
Tops on the list are airplane-maker Boeing at No. 27 with more than $66 billion in sales; drugstore giant Walgreen at No. 40 with $53.7 billion in sales, and Sears Holdings, the Hoffman Estates-based dealer, at No. 45 with more than $50 billion in sales.
Others on the Fortune 100 list from Illinois include Caterpiller, in Peoria, at No. 50; State Farm Insurance of Bloomington at No. 32, and Deere, based in Moline, at No. 98.
Chicago's fringes are home to Allstate, the Northbrook insurer, at No. 64; Motorola, the Schaumburg-cell-phone producer ranked No. 65, and Abbott Laboratories, the North Chicago pharmaceuticals company at No. 96.
Below the 100 ranking are McDonald's at No. 106; United Airlines parent UAL at No. 124; Sara Lee at No. 125 and Exelon at No. 150.
Trailing were 20 other companies including Smurfit-Stone Container, CDW, W.W. Grainger and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
Local grocery-store chains Jewel-Osco and Dominick's are owned by Fortune 500 companies headquartered elsewhere. Dominick's owner, Safeway, of Pleasanton, Calif., came in at No. 55, while Jewel parent Supervalu of Eden Prairie, Minn., ranked No. 62. Digg Our News Here ->                
The residential real estate industry, announces the top companies to watch. These are real estate companies that during the previous 12 months set forth actions that can potentially have a far reaching blow on the residential real estate brokerage industry in the years to come.
Companies that have been listed in recent years include Google, Redfin and First American. Three companies are featured for the second time on the list, namely Zillow, Trulia and RealEstate.com, while the Housing Boom and collapse of the Secondary market introduced new companies namely Bank of America and the Federal keep back. The growth of Social Networking was acknowledged with the insertion of ActiveRain but overall the year seemed to be dominated by a few large real estate companies such as Realogy, RE/MAX and EXIT.
The Top 10 Trendsetters for 2007 are (in countdown order):
10. Bank of America
Bank of America, the largest retail banking operation in the country, for their saving of luckless and cash-starved Countrywide.
9. EXIT Realty
Based on a system that pays out residuals, EXIT's innovation in redistributing the commission pie and strong growth in recent years to become one of the 10 largest national franchises in the country.
8. RealEstate.com
For the turn about in increasing an online business and successful opening of 12 "bricks and mortar" locations.
7. Federal Reserve
For the poor managing of the forewarned housing fizz that liked to the worst housing sprawl in two in decades and the largest collapse of the financial markets since the sadness.
6. Trulia
Racing up the Hitwise list to become one the 3rd largest traffic contributor to 12 of the largest residential real estate franchisors and brokerages nationwide.
5. ActiveRain
Launched in June 2006, ActiveRain assumed the mantle as the #1 in real estate social network boasting 60,000 members by 2007.
4. RE/MAX
Leading the charge in adding everyone's listings on their corporate website, Remax.com became the most visited website of any national real estate company generating a record 3 million leads for its agents.
3. Zillow
Fueled by "Zestimates" and excellent publicity, Zillow became the most talked about company in real estate and their site was one of the top 3 most visited websites in real estate.
2. Dominion
Combining print publications Harmon Homes, For Rent, New Homes & Living, Home Solutions and Distinctive Homes together with websites Homes.com and ForRent.com and companies Number1Expert, Katabat and eNeighborhoods, Dominion has in two short years become a force in the industry.
1. Realogy
Breaking up Cendant into three divide operating units (valued at $7.75 billion) made Realogy the new parent for all their real estate activities (Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA, NRT and Sotheby's). Realogy is the industry's largest franchisor in the world with more than 15,000 employees and 315,000 affiliated real estate brokers and sales associates worldwide. In September 2007 they added Better Homes and Gardens to their portfolio solidifying their position at the top of the list of 2007 Trendsetters of the Year.
Digg Our News Here ->
To spotlight the companies on the 2008 Diversity Inc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, we will be running profiles of three of them each day. Today we aspect PricewaterhouseCoopers, Procter & Gamble, and Cox Communications. Just click on each company's name to view the profile.
These profiles include fast information about the companies and what diversity strengths propelled them to their ranking on the Top 50, and often aspect quotes on the importance of diversity from their CEOs and chief diversity officers.
Companies on this list make obvious strength in the four areas we calculate: CEO Commitment, Human Capital, Corporate and Organizational Communications, and Supplier Diversity.
A total of 352 companies participated in the 2008 Top 50 competition, up 10 percent from last year and up 100 percent since 2003. Thirteen companies appeared on the list for the first time; 15 companies went up in ranking from last year. Now in its eighth year, the Top 50 competition is an perspective process, completely driven by metrics obtained in a full analysis of more than 200 questions. The survey is sent to any company requesting it that has more than 1,000 U.S. employees. There is no fee to enter and no requirement to advertise. Digg Our News Here ->
Infosys Technologies
Reliance Industries
Wipro
Hindustan Lever
Maruti Udyof
Dr. Reddy's Lab
Infosys Technologies
A company that adds an organization equivalent to half its size every year poses a very stiff challenge to those reclusive strategists-the board of directories.With annual growth revenue of $1 billion plus,the board of directories include N.R. Narayana Murthy,Nandan Nilekani,Omkar Goswami,Larry pressler and Claude Smadja.
Infosys Technologies Ltd. provides consulting and IT services to clients globally - as partners to conceptualize and realize technology driven business transformation initiatives. With over 58,000 employees worldwide, we use a low-risk Global Delivery Model (GDM) to accelerate schedules with a high degree of time and cost predictability. As one of the pioneers in strategic offshore outsourcing of software services, Infosys has leveraged the global trend of offshore outsourcing. Even as many software outsourcing companies were blamed for diverting global jobs to cheaper offshore outsourcing destinations like India and China, Infosys was recently applauded by Wired magazine for its unique offshore outsourcing strategy - it singled out Infosys for turning the outsourcing myth around and bringing jobs back to the US.
Reliance Industries
Dhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance as a textile company and led its evolution as a global leader in the materials and energy value chain businesses. He is credited to have brought about the equity cult in India in the late seventies and is regarded as an icon for enterprise in India. He epitomized the spirit 'dare to dream and learn to excel'.
Today Mukesh Ambani,chairman of the India's biggest private sector company. By investing Rs 10,500 crore at one go in Reliance Infocomm,the group's telecom venture,has proved that Reliance can pull off big projects-not just in petrochemicals,but also in any other field it lays hands on.
In just one year after its launch, Reliance Infocomm has garnered 7 million subscribers for its mobile telephone services.Its services are now available in more cities and towns than any competitor,baring the state owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam which has been in the business for than four decades.
Wipro
Azim Premji,chairman of Wipro says continuing to believe in our long term strategy ,building a complete range of IT and BPO solutions for our customers,deep engagement in R&D services and technology domain and significant leverage from our India Business.
Premji says he will not easily forget the hammering Wipro received from analysts when it entered the BPO space buyout of spectramind in july 2002.Wipro's entire focuss is now on getting the organization ready to handle huge IT outsourcing deals-perhaps in excess of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Hindustan Lever
Hindustan Lever Limited (also called HLL) is India's largest consumer products company and is headquartered in Mumbai. Lever Brothers India Limited was formed in 1933 which became Hindustan Lever Limited. It has 41,000 employees. HLL is the market leader in Indian products such as tea, soaps, detergents. As of May 2006, it is headed by Mr Douglas Bailey.
Hind Lever's water debut in Jan Consumer foods giant Hindustan Lever will launch its water business in January 2004. The foray was significant for Hindustan Lever because its British parent, Unilever Plc, was likely to go in for a global launch of the water business in select markets if the experiment turned out to be successful in India, Hindustan Lever executives said.
The company has ruled out its entry through the "purified water in bottles" line, and is looking at tapping the purified water dispensers market by targeting the household sector, a market that is estimated at around Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion).
The equipment would provide purified water much cheaper to domestic consumers, compared with bottled water, Hindustan Lever sources said.
With Hindustan Lever entering the water business, the competition is expected to heat up in the domestic market.
Maruti Udyog
Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in Feb 1981 through an Act of Parliament, to meet the growing demand of a personal mode of transport caused by the lack of an efficient public transport system.
Suzuki Motor Company was chosen from seven prospective partners worldwide. This was due not only to their undisputed leadership in small cars but also to their commitment to actively bring to MUL contemporary technology and Japanese management practices (which had catapulted Japan over USA to the status of the top auto manufacturing country in the world).
A licence and a Joint Venture agreement was signed between Govt of India and Suzuki Motor Company (now Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan) in Oct 1982
As opposed to marketshare,opportunities share-as conceived by Maruti Udyog's managing director Jagdish Khattar - Is the portion of business that a company captures from new opportunities which the company itself creates. Khattar believes that all market leaders must concentrate more on creating fundamentally new opportunities and grabbing a larger share of business from those than existing market.
DR.Reddy's Lab
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories was founded by Dr Anji Reddy, a entrepreneur-scientist, in 1984. The DNA of the company is drawn from its founder and his vision to establish India's first discovery led global pharmaceutical company. In fact, it is this spirit of entrepreneurship that has shaped the company to become what it is today.
Dr Anji Reddy, having moved out of Standard Organics Limited, a company he had successfully co-founded, started Dr. Reddy's Laboratories with $ 40,000 in cash and $120,000 in bank loan! Today, the company with revenues of Rs.1947 crore (US $446 million), as of fiscal year 2005, is India's second largest pharmaceutical company and the youngest among its peer group.
The company has several distinctions to its credit. Being the first pharmaceutical company from Asia Pacific (outside Japan) to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (on April 11, 2001) is only one among them. And as always, Dr. Reddy's chose to do it in the most difficult of circumstances against widespread skepticism. Dr. Reddy's came up trumps not only having its stock oversubscribed but also becoming the best performing IPO that year.
Dr. Anji Reddy is well known for his passion for research and drug discovery. Dr. Reddy's started its drug discovery programme in 1993 and within three years it achieved its first breakthrough by outlicensing an anti-diabetes molecule to Novo Nordisk in March 1997. With this very small but significant step, the Indian industry went through a paradigm shift in its image from being known as just 'copycats' to 'innovators'! Through its success, Dr. Reddy's pioneered drug discovery in India. There are several such inflection points in the company's evolution from a bulk drug (API) manufacturer into a vertically integrated global pharmaceutical company today.
Today, the company manufactures and markets API (Bulk Actives), Finished Dosages and Biologics in over 100 countries worldwide, in addition to having a very promising Drug Discovery Pipeline. When Dr. Reddy's started its first big move in 1986 from manufacturing and marketing bulk actives to the domestic (Indian) market to manufacturing and exporting difficult-to-manufacture bulk actives such as Methyldopa to highly regulated overseas markets, it had to not only overcome regulatory and legal hurdles but also battle deeply entrenched mind-set issues of Indian Pharma being seen as producers of 'cheap' and therefore 'low quality' pharmaceuticals. Today, the Indian pharma industry, in stark contrast, is known globally for its proven high quality-low cost advantage in delivering safe and effective pharmaceuticals. This transition, a tough and often-perilous one, was made possible thanks to the pioneering efforts of companies such as Dr. Reddy's. Digg Our News Here ->
One of the things that impressed me at SXSW was how some companies, such as Dell, were finding ways to participate in the event, rather than simply sponsoring events and slapping banners up everywhere. I was happy to say that I saw several instances of this type of 'Marketing Without Fingerprints' at Blogger Social as well. Here's a few of the ways I noticed companies and individuals doing some smart marketing not by promoting, but rather by participating:
1 - Ann Handley was at Blogger Social representing Marketing Profs on Friday night. Now MP did give away a ton of swag to everyone, probably over $6,000 worth total. But the majority of that came in the form of free premium memberships to everyone that attended the Sat night dance, which Ann did NOT attend. Ann wasn't there to promote Marketing Profs, she was there to form deeper relationships with everyone in attendance. She was the 'face' of Marketing Profs. MP didn't sponsor the event, they just donated memberships, and gave away I believe six of the super-duper $250 memberships. As well as tee-shirts!
But Ann and Marketing Profs were smart enough to know that they could best benefit by looking at this event as a way to meet online friends, and make new ones. The marketing was completely hands-off, and that's why it worked so well. Everyone that attended the Friday night event was no doubt impressed with meeting Ann, and that reflects well on Marketing Profs. The free shirts and memberships were great, but the connections that were formed and deepened was the real prize.
2 - Several members of Ogilvy's 360 team were in attendance at Blogger Social, including Virginia Miracle, Kaitlyn Wilkins, Rohit Bhargava, and John Bell. I unfortunately didn't get to spend much time with Rohit and John, but did get the chance to meet and talk with both Virginia and Kaitlyn. All of them seemed to be great people, and as a result that made my opinion of Ogilvy go up. In fact when Kaitlyn mentioned that Ogilvy was hiring, I didn't hesitate in suggesting that a friend contact them, since I made such a good connection with each of them at Blogger Social.
I saw a lot of this at SXSW too when I noticed how incredibly popular Lionel Menchaca and Mario Sundar were with everyone. Simply being at events like SXSW and Blogger Social and meeting these people and forming the relationships is extremely beneficial to these companies. The feelings I have for these people are naturally going to translate into positive attitudes toward their employers.
3 - And speaking of Rohit, he of course has a new book out called Personality Not Included. He saw attending Blogger Social as a great way to drum up excitement for his book. So first, he gave everyone that attended a signed copy. Perfect. Already he's put the book in the hands of many of the most influential business and marketing bloggers on the planet.
Then he did something else that I thought was brilliant. The framework of the events for Blogger Social were organized so that attendees had plenty of free time inbetween to create their OWN meetups. Rohit took advantage of this to host a breakfast/book launch for Personality Not Included. As an extra bonus, he was offering a prize of $200 and 25 free copies of PNI to the person that could come up with the best idea for promoting the book if they had a budget of $200 and 25 copies.
So Rohit, for the cost of the breakfast and $200 and 25 copies of PNI, got to pick the brains of some of the smartest business bloggers on the internet about ways he can market his book. The attendees got free food, prizes, and another chance to get social. A win-win for everyone. Digg Our News Here ->
Innocent Drinks is a UK-based company that sells smoothies and flavored water to retail outlets. Innocent Drink's selling point is the use of its 'fresh' ingredients in its products, and this has helped the company become the dominant player in the UK smoothie market. But how does the company's blog, Daily Thoughts shape up? Let's find out.
As always, let's start with the content, which is probably the biggest stumbling block for many company blogs. Far too many companies make the mistake of trying to shine the spotlight on themselves with their blog, and turn the space into a promotional vehicle. But look at what Innocent Drinks has done with Daily Thoughts. There is almost zero direct promotion. But when the company is promoting itself, it finds a way to involve its customers. For example, the company has been promoting its AGM (Annual General Meeting), but is encouraging the blog's readers to use it as a mechanism to give them feedback on the company's direction. Also, they are encouraging customers to attend the meeting, and are posting pictures of customers that will attend!
The company also posts about recent efforts to plant trees to help the environment, and numerous updates on what the employees themselves are doing. But what strikes you as you read Daily Thoughts is that this is a FUN blog! The employees are having fun, the customers appear to love the brand, and a good time is being had by all. Again, very little promotion of the company's products, plenty of promotion of the customers, the employees, and stories that relate to the issues that are core to the brand. Daily Thoughts has hit a home run on the content front.
The posting pattern for the blog is pretty solid. They don't appear to have a set schedule, but still seem to be churning out about 4 posts a week, a very good amount for a company blog.
Now let's move to comments. I think the comment section is another area that there's a bit of a misconception among companies that blog. I believe they feel that if their posts are getting comments, then don't touch anything. Most of the posts on Daily Thoughts are getting comments, but I think the blog's writers could be replying more than they are. It's a tricky line to walk because you don't want to monopolize the conversation, but at the same time you want your readers to know that you are reading their comments, and will reply as you can. If I were Innocent Drinks, I would turn up the volume on replying to comments just a tad.
But as for the number of comments, many of the posts are getting comments, and some are getting several. It seems that Innocent Drinks has a blog that's resonating with its readers, and making them feel comfortable commenting. A VERY good sign.
Finally, let's look at the sidebars. The blog itself features a very handsome 3-column layout with the wider column being in the center where the posts are published. This gives Innocent Drinks the ability to put much more content on two sidebars, instead of one.
The sidebars feature all the main elements you'd like to see; categories, archives, links to other blogs, as well as subscriber buttons. Also, there are tons of links to Flickr pics, YouTube videos, the company's Facebook page, and areas for photos that customers have submitted. One glaring omission is, I don't see the section on the blog's writers. I need to see at minimum a link to where I can view a picture and the bio for EVERY one of the blog's writers. This SHOULD be on the front page of the blog, but if not a link should be there. Yes it's great to have links to Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and all that, but your readers want to see YOU. This is a key element of a company blog that is often overlooked.
I think that more than any other blog I've reviewed in the Company Blog Checkup series so far, Daily Thoughts really captures the 'fun' element. As soon as you visit the blog, it just seems like a fun place that you'd like to visit again. I think this is partly due to the fact that is probably looks more like a personal blog than your average company blog. The content is very low on self-promotion, and high on customers and employees. Digg Our News Here ->
Here's the standings for Week 101:
1 - Seth's Blog - 8,887 (+44)(LW - 1)
2 - CopyBlogger - 6,878 (LW - UR)
3 - Search Engine Guide - 1,835 (-48)(LW - 2)
4 - Chris Brogan - 1,543 (LW - UR)
5 - Duct Tape Marketing - 1,369 (+93)(LW - 4)
6 - Logic + Emotion - 1,348 (+57)(LW - 3)
7 - Daily Fix - 1,015 (-78)(LW - 5)
8 - Influential Marketing - 846 (+95)(LW - 7)
9 - Brand Autopsy - 790 (-24)(LW - 6)
10 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 720 (+52)(LW - 9)
11 - Jaffe Juice - 719 (-1)(LW - 8)
12 - What's Next - 668 (+19)(LW - 11)
13 - Church of the Customer - 661 (No Change)(LW - 10)
14 - Conversation Agent - 655 (+52)(LW - 12)
15 - Six Pixels of Separation - 648 (+90)(LW - 14)
16 - The Viral Garden - 568 (-12)(LW - 13)
16 - Diva Marketing - 568 (+43)(LW - 15)
18 - Converstations - 496 (+61)(LW - 17)
19 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 456 (+40)(LW - 18)
20 - The Engaging Brand - 455 (-26)(LW - 16)
21 - Every Dot Connects - 430 (+66)(LW - 21)
22 - CK's Blog - 428 (+53)(LW - 19)
23 - Servant of Chaos - 414 (+40)(LW - 20)
24 - Damn! I Wish I'd Thought of That! - 391 (LW - UR)
25 - Social Media Explorer - 336 (LW - UR)
A reminder that the Top 25 Marketing & Social Media Blogs are ranked according to the number of sites/blogs linking to each, according to Technorati. The number you see after the blog name is how many sites/blogs Technorati claims have linked to the blog in the last 6 months. After that number is a positive or negative number, and this represents how many links the blog gained or lost from last week's Top 25. The final stat tells you what position the blog held in the Top 25 Last Week (LW). If you see this; (LW - UR), it means the blog wasn't ranked last week.
First, thanks to everyone that gave me their opinion of what the direction of the Top 25 Marketing Blogs should be, both here, via email, and in person at Blogger Social. Thanks especially to Andy Sernovitz and Sean Howard for their ideas.
Based on what everyone said, it was obvious that most bloggers either didn't want the list to continue, or wanted it changed to include social media blogs. Most of my regular readers wanted the list to continue as is, or add in social media blogs.
Since this list was always intended to be a resource for my readers, and since there's an increasing interest in how social media can effectively be incorporated into marketing plans, I've decided to continue the list, adding in social media blogs. This means that some excellent new blogs focusing on social media have been added, such as Chris Brogan's blog along with Social Media Explorer. I've also added a couple of blogs that cover both marketing and social media, including CopyBlogger and Damn! I Wish I'd Thought of That!
Adding Chris Brogan's blog and Copyblogger has instantly shuffled the top of the list, and for the first time ever, Seth's Blog has some semi-competition for the top spot, even though Copyblogger still trails by 2,000 links.
Several of the blogs in the Top 25 saw big gains this week (remember that it's been 3 weeks since the last list). At first I thought this was mostly due to bumps for Blogger Social attendees, but not everyone that attended (Hi!) saw their blog go up.
Experience Curve, Flooring the Customer, Customers Rock!, Movie Marketing Madness, and The Lonely Marketer all barely missed the cut. Digg Our News Here ->
We first released our 'Guide to Greener Electronics' in August 2006. The guide ranks the 14 top manufacturers of personal computers and mobile phones according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.
The public ranking has been successful in spurring many companies to improve, and the second edition, released today, shows good overall industry progress and some major individual improvements in rank.
"We are witnessing a global shift towards greener PCs, with Acer and Lenovo, two major producers, committing to eliminate the use of the most hazardous chemicals from their products range," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner, "Most companies now score above average points on the ranking guide, with only five companies failing to score even the average of five points."
Full Ranking
The ranking is important because the amounts of toxic e-waste is growing every day. It often ends up dumped in the developing world. Reducing the toxic chemicals in products reduces pollution from old products and makes recycling safer, easier and cheaper. Companies with good recycling schemes help ensure that their products don't end up in the e-waste yards of Africa and Asia.
Green Movers
Nokia continues to hold the top spot in the ranking, with progressive policies on both its chemicals policy as well as disposal of electronic waste. However, the company is yet to outline clear timelines for phasing out the toxic plastic PVC (vinyl) in all its products.
Motorola has been the fastest mover in the ranking guide. From second worst in the first version of the guide, it has made strong commitments to moved up to fourth place. Lenovo has also made strong policy commitments, to jump from the bottom to 8th place. Fujitsu-Siemens and Acer made substantial progress and are now ranked 3rd and 7th respectively, moving up from their earlier 10th and 12th positions.
Must do better
Apple has made no improvements in its policies and is now bottom of the ranking. While its arch rivals make progress, the world leader in innovation and design is falling further and further behind.
We'd expect an innovative company which takes pride in 'thinking different' to be top of the ranking - which was why we launched the Green my Apple campaign which has mobilized Mac fans worldwide to tell Apple how much they love their products: and how badly they want them to be environmentally sound.
LGE, Samsug and Sony have lost points for failing to act on their commitments to take responsibility for their waste; instead, the companies are supporting regulation in the US that would place the responsibility for product recycling on consumers instead of producers.
In September 2006, HP had one point deducted from its overall score when analysis of an HP laptop revealed the presence of a type of toxic chemical that HP claimed it no longer used. HP was quick to respond and investigate. They went public with an explanation on their website, and the penalty point was removed.
By turning the public spotlight on top electronics companies and challenging them to outrank their competition, the guide has succeeded in motivating many companies to improve their policies on chemicals and waste.
But ultimately, companies only respond to issues that matter to their customers. If you're a Mac or iPod user, join the growing ranks of Apple users telling Steve Jobs that the back of the pack is just no place for Apple. Digg Our News Here ->
This report has been prepared by Privacy International following a six-month investigation into the privacy practices of key Internet based companies. The ranking lists the best and the worst performers both in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 across the full spectrum of search, email, e-commerce and social networking sites.
The analysis employs a methodology comprising around twenty core parameters. We rank the major Internet players but we also discuss examples of best and worst privacy practice among smaller companies.
The report was compiled using data derived from public sources (newspaper articles, blog entries, submissions to government inquiries, privacy policies etc), information provided by present and former company staff, technical analysis and interviews with company representatives.
Because the 2007 rankings are a precedent, Privacy International will regard the current report as a consultation report and will establish a broad outreach for two months to ensure that any new and relevant information is taken into account before publishing a full report in September.
Which companies?
Ideally we would like to be able to look at all companies in all sectors, but for now we have limited ourselves to online service companies. We created a list of consumer-facing companies based on a number of 'top 50', 'top 100', and 'top 500' resources using criteria including:
* market share
* services offered
* number of users
* site traffic
We have solicited comments from experts around the world about companies that we may have unintentionally omitted. For the time being we have excluded coverage of companies operating under mandatory data collection regimes such as those in the financial sector (e.g. online banking and payment schemes) and the travel industry (e.g. airlines and travel agencies).
Categorising companies has become increasingly difficult. The amount of mergers and acquisitions sometimes makes it quite difficult to differentiate stand-alone companies from conglomerates. We had to judge when it was appropriate to differentiate between companies and services. For instance, Windows Live Space is part of Microsoft, but because it offers services that are quite specific and because of the size of the user base, we took the decision to treat it as a distinct organisation. Meanwhile, Google is a company comprising many services, but its practices and ethics are very much part of its brand and image as a whole, and so we treated it as one single entity. We ranked Orkut as a separate entity even though it is owned by Google.
We are open to recommendations for other companies that we should include in future ranking reports. Ideally we should be able to segment the report findings into various sectors. For instance, we could identify the best and worst practices within social networking sites, search engines and location-based services. We are looking into expanding our company list in the future, but we must also conduct research and consult widely on how looking at specific service dynamics will affect the methodology. It should also be noted that due to resource constraints many of the companies on our current list operate predominately in the English language. We hope to broaden the language base in future rankings. Due to these constraints we have currently omitted some of the largest companies on the Internet.
The companies we included in this consultation study are:
* Amazon
* AOL
* Apple
* BBC
* Bebo
* eBay
* Facebook
* Friendster
* Google
* Hi5
* Last.fm
* LinkedIn
* LiveJournal
* Microsoft
* Myspace
* Orkut
* Reunion.com
* Skype
* Wikipedia
* Windows Live Space
* Xanga
* Yahoo!
* YouTube
We also reviewed the practices of other companies that are not necessarily market leaders. Through investigation and research, sometimes spurred by communications we receive from concerned members of the public, we identified a number of smaller companies who sometimes exercise a complete disregard for the sensitivity of their customers' personal information.
We are also searching for companies that exhibit positive privacy practices. We have been able to identify a number of these companies and hope to report on them more fully in our September report. Digg Our News Here ->
Top 10 Sites 2007 Once again, the editors of top ranking company are happy to present our yearly list of the 10 best planning, design, and development websites.
Active Living Network
www.activeliving.org
BldgBlog
bldgblog.blogspot.com CommuterPage.com
www.commuterpage.com
Louisiana Speaks
www.louisianaspeaks.org
Open Architecture Network
www.openarchitecturenetwork.org PlanNYC
www.plannyc.org
SmartGrowthPlanning.org
www.smartgrowthplanning.org
SustainLane Government
www.sustainlane.us Visualizing Density
www.lincolninst.edu/subcenters/vd
World Changing
www.worldchanging.com Digg Our News Here ->
Welcome to our 2006 list of the 10 best planning, design, and development websites. We are listing the 10 best new or considerably improved sites each year. The following 10 sites stand for the best new or improved resources the Internet has to offer for those interested in planning, design, and development.
City of Alexandria, Department of Planning and Zoning
http://www.ci.alexandria.va.us/planningandzoning
Curating The City
http://www.curatingthecity.org
Curbed
http://www.curbed.com
DataPlace
http://www.dataplace.org
Interactive Nolli Map
http://nolli.uoregon.edu
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Urban-Studies-and-Planning/index.htm
Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington
http://www.mrsc.org
Neighborhood Knowledge, California 2.0
http://nkca.ucla.edu
Pedestrian and Bike Information Center
http://www.pedbikeinfo.org
Wikipedia Architecture Portal / Urban Planning Section
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Urban_studies_and_planning
Digg Our News Here ->
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting customers, food service operators, and food retailers that New Era Canning Company, New Era, Mich., is broadening its nationwide recall of canned vegetable products for a third time because of the potential for its foods to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum).
C. botulinum produces the toxin that causes botulism and can cause life-threatening illness or death. The affected New Era products are large institutional-sized cans, weighing between six and seven pounds, of various types of beans, blackeye peas, and asparagus.
To date, no illnesses have been reported to the FDA. However, consumers should not consume these goods, even if they appear to be normal, given that of the potential serious risk to health. Consumers who have the affected products, or who have used them in recipes, should straight away throw the cans and food away.
The potentially contaminated products are marketed under ten different brand names:
Processors other than New Era may be packing these brands. Only products packed by New Era are subject to the recall, so individuals must check the lot numbers on the bottom of the cans to determine if the product is affected by the recall. A complete list of specific brands, products, and lot codes subject to the New Era recalls can be found at http://www.fda.gov/.
Symptoms of botulism poisoning in humans can begin from six hours to two weeks after eating food that contains the toxin. Symptoms may consist of double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, and muscle weakness that move increasingly down the body, affecting the shoulders first, and then descending to the upper arms, lower arms, thighs, and calves. Botulism poisoning also can cause paralysis of the breathing muscles, which can result in death unless support with breathing (mechanical ventilation) is provided. Individuals who have these symptoms and who may have newly eaten the products under recall or other food products made with them should seek immediate medical attention.
Any food that may contain the affected products should be disposed of carefully. Even tiny amounts of the C. botulinum toxin can cause serious illness when ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the eye or a break in the skin. Skin contact should be avoided as much as likely, and hands should be washed immediately after handling the food.
When disposing of these products, double-bag the cans in plastic bags. Make sure the bags are tightly closed, then place in a trash receptacle for non-recyclable trash outside of the home. Restaurants and institutions should ensure that such products are only placed in locked receptacles that are not accessible to the public. Additional instructions for safe disposal may be found at www.cdc.gov/.
This bring to mind is the most recent to result from an ongoing investigation of New Era Canning's processing plant by the FDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The FDA initiated a check of New Era Canning, along with inspections of other low acid canned food manufacturers, following four cases of botulism in consumers who had consumed canned, hot dog chili sauce in the summer of 2007.
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A few weeks ago, FSC-Watch reported that the Swedish Society for Nature conservation (SSNC) had made a formal complaint to FSC about SCA's logging operations in Northern Sweden. We've also raised concerns about WWF's close relationships with logging companies. WWF, it seems, is getting very cosy with SCA. In September 2007, WWF and SCA Hygiene signed a £10 million marketing deal allowing SCA to put WWF's panda logo on its packs of Velvet toilet tissue. Last week, SCA announced that WWF had ranked the company "top in this year's assessment of the sustainability reports of European paper companies". Last year, WWF announced that "SCA Tissue, the producer of such brands as Danke, Edet, Zewa, Cosy and Velvet, is the only surveyed company that is able to ensure that wood fibres used in its products don't come from poorly-managed forests. This manufacturer also promotes the highest environmental and social standards in forest management." Here's one of SSNC's photographs of SCA's operations in northern Sweden. An example of what SCA, FSC and WWF describe as well managed.
WWF and SCA both use FSC as the standard to judge whether or not forests are "well managed". In its Sustainability Report from 2006, SCA writes: "Responsible use of wood: SCA's forests are certified according to FSC, a strict international standard." Meanwhile, in its Paper Scorecard, WWF addresses "Responsible use of natural resources by promoting use of post-consumer recycled fibre and virgin fibre from well-managed FSC-certified forests as preferred fibre sources." The similarities between SCA's claims and WWF's Scorecard are obvious. SCA uses recycled fibre for some of its products, but where it uses virgin fibre FSC doesn't appear to be able to guarantee anything very much. SCA recently launched a "Young Nature Photographer of the Year" competition, in association with WWF. If we thought anyone at SSNC were young enough to enter, FSC-Watch would encourage them to send in the photograph below - not that they'd stand any chance of winning the competition, but maybe someone at WWF might see what the logging operations of one of their favourite companies actually look like.
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