2014/08/23

Amazon, Hermès, Chipotle Top Forbes Most Innovative Retailers List



Clare O'ConnorForbes Staff
Burritos and Birkin bags have more in common than you might expect. Mid-priced Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle and 177-year-old French design house Hermès both made this year’s Forbes list of the 100Most Innovative Companies in the world.
The two were among a handful of retail-focused companies to make the cut, including e-commerce giants Amazon.com AMZN -0.39% and Priceline, ubiquitous coffee house Starbucks SBUX -0.25% and ‘fast fashion’ firmsH&M and Inditex (the latter is the parent company of Spanish clothier Zara ).
While billionaire Marc Benioff’s cloud computing outfit Salesforce.com topped the list for the fourth year in a row, the world’s retail innovators weren’t far behind.
Jeff Bezos’ constantly-evolving Amazon placed 6th, while Hermès — featured on the cover of the latest issue of Forbes — came in at 13, above headline-grabbing companies Netflix (#30) and Walmex, Mexico’s Walmart (#95).
Other retailers deemed among the most innovative this year include organic powerhouse Whole Foods Market, Japanese casual clothier Fast Retailing (parent company of hip brand Uniqlo) and eyewear conglomerate Luxxotica, which owns sunglass brands Ray-Ban and Persol among others.
Forbes’ list is compiled in conjunction with the research team behind bestseller The Innovator’s DNA, co-written by famed Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen.
Far from being arbitrary or based on perceived popularity, this list ranks companies based on their so-called innovation premium: the difference between their market capitalization and a net present value of cash flows from existing businesses (based on a proprietary formula from Credit Suisse HOLT).
The difference between them is the bonus given by equity investors on the educated hunch that the company will continue to come up with profitable new growth.
To be included, firms need seven years of public financial data and $10 billion in market cap. (Facebook, for example, would be in the top ten if we used only 2012 data.)
For the full methodology behind the list, see here. For full coverage of the 100 Most Innovative Companies and to read more about what sets them apart, see here.

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