BusinessWeek: Apple is most innovative company

BusinessWeek has posted its list of The 50 Most Innovative Companies and Apple tops the list. According to the survey taken by "senior executives around the world," Apple ranks number one with the reason given by 47% of respondents is its products.

While the 2009 list includes some stalwarts in their usual top positions—namely Apple and Google—15 newcomers have joined the lineup...These include more companies headquartered outside the U.S. than in the past, such as Volkswagen, Infosys, and Telefónica.

Rounding out the top five are: Google, Toyota, Microsoft and Nintendo.

In December 2008, BW sent out a 20-question poll to senior executives around the world. The 2,700 anonymous respondents were asked to name corporations that consistently offer inventive products, customer experiences, business models, or processes. The votes of executives who chose their own employers were disqualified.

BW has posted a full explanation of its methodology as well as the footnotes at the bottom of the table.