The answers to at least some of these questions may be contained in this year's Financial Times/ PriceWaterhouseCoopers' survey of the world's most respected companies. The survey has been expanded to include those companies that CEOs believe will be the most respected in five years' time.

According to the survey, many of the businesses that top the most respected companies' list today will still be there in five years. Microsoft and General Electric will still be towering head and shoulders over the competition. The household brands of Coca-Cola and Sony will still be up there. The only difference may be in these leviathans' relative rankings, as they jostle for position. In five years' time, for example, General Electric is expected to give up its coveted number one position to Microsoft.

The fact that both Microsoft and GE are still soaring far above the rest, despite uncertainties and changes in management, is a testimony to the stability of their established positions, their dynamism, and their resilience. According to one CEO: "No matter what's hurled at them [Microsoft], they still remain on top." That sums up the common belief that even if Microsoft is eventually split up, following on from the anti-competition judgment against it in the US, the company will continue to dominate the internet and software industries. And the secret behind Microsoft's long-haul stamina? According to at least one- third of the survey's respondents, the company's staying power is rooted in its current market presence and domination of the global IT industry.

General Electric may be losing business icon Jack Welch as its CEO at the end of next year, but it will remain a leading company for a long time to come. Mr Welch, who has been voted the world's most respected businessman for three years running, is held in such high esteem that one CEO cited the fact that "Jack Welch's philosophy is present in the leaders of the company" as a reason for GE's success. In fact, the company's leadership and management were the main reasons why it was nominated as a future top company. Another key explanation for GE's uncanny ability to remain on top was its remarkable ability to keep reinventing itself. This was reckoned by respondents to be an essential quality for any business looking to hang on to success at a time when the IT boom is expected to continue well into the 21st century.

Across the board, the companies that made the list shared a number of qualities, although in some cases to varying degrees. Current market presence, including industry dominance and icon stature, was the number one characteristic determining which businesses would be the most respected in five years' time. As in the case of Microsoft, this was one of the top reasons for the nominations of Vodafone, Nokia, and America Online/Time Warner.

Although trailing market dominance, another key indicator of future business success is reckoned to be a company's ability to perform well, including year-on-year growth rates and increasing shareholder value. Wal-Mart received a third of its votes for this reason. Additional qualities imperative for future success included vision and innovation, as in the case of IBM, and business strategy. Product portfolio (Citigroup and Coca-Cola), and a company's ability to adapt or diversify, are also extremely important. A company's leadership and management, ethical or social responsibility (Toyota), and good customer service are also considered to be quite significant factors determining success. Bringing up the rear, factors such as global reach, marketing, and organisational structure were all mentioned, but were reckoned to have much less impact on future success.

Given the rapid and continuing growth of the IT and telecoms industries, it is no surprise to find that companies from these sectors take up 40 per cent of the nominations for the world's most respected companies in 2005. Engineering companies make up the third largest category, with 12 per cent of the total nominees, while electrical, financial, and food/beverage companies each secured 8 per cent of the total nominations.

The world's most respected companies in 5 years' time
Rank   2000	Company	Country	Sector
26	Royal Dutch/Shell	Netherlands/UK	Energy/Chemicals
27	Siemens	Germany	Electrical/Electronics
=28	SAP	Germany	IT
=28	AT&T	US	Telecoms
30	Ford	US	Engineering
31	Vivendi	France	Utilities
32	Deutsche Telekom	Germany	Telecoms
33	Airbus Industrie	Fra/Ger/UK/Spa	Engineering
34	Hewlett-Packard	US	IT
35	Glaxo Wellcome/Smithkline Beecham	UK	Healthcare
36	Disney	US	Media/Leisure
=37	AIG	US	Financial
=37	Ericsson	Sweden	Electrical/Electronics
=37	DuPont	US	Energy/Chemicals
=40	Lucent Technologies	US	Telecoms
=40	Unilever	Netherlands/UK	Food/Beverages
42	Alcoa	US	Resources
43	Proctor & Gamble	US	Food/Beverages
=44	Telefonica	Spain	Telecoms
=44	HSBC	UK/Hong Kong	Financial
46	Merrill Lynch	US	Financial
47	Volkswagen	Germany	Engineering
=48	BT	UK	Telecoms
=48	WorldCom	US	Telecoms
=48	Compaq	US	IT

However, some unlucky companies from this year's most respected line-up did not make it on to the 2005 list. Ten of these ranked among the top 40 most respected companies this year and include, somewhat surprisingly, 3M (number 9 on this year's list), McDonald's, and Nike. A handful of financial institutions also failed to make the leap to being considered businesses of the future - including Berkshire Hathaway, JP Morgan, Axa and, arrestingly, Goldman Sachs. While in some cases it is understandable why individual companies were not nominated (Honda, in the light of its current poor financial performance and Philip Morris because of the tobacco backlash), it is much more difficult to explain why others were overlooked. (Goldman Sachs and McDonalds stand out in this respect.)

The world's most respected companies in 5 years' time
Rank 2000	Company	Country	Sector
1	Microsoft	US	IT
2	General Electric	US	Electrical/Electronics
3	Cisco Systems	US	IT
4	Coca-Cola	US	Food/Beverages
5	IBM	US	IT
6	Sony	Japan	Consumer Goods
7	America Online/Time Warner	US	IT
8	Nokia	Finland	Electrical/Electronics
9	Intel	US	IT
10	Toyota	Japan	Engineering
11	Dell	US	IT
12	Merck	US	Healthcare
13	DaimlerChrysler	Germany	Engineering
14	Sun Microsystems	US	IT
15	Wal-Mart	US	Retail
=16	Vodafone	UK	Telecoms
=16	Citigroup	US	Financial
18	Yahoo	US	IT
19	Oracle	US	IT
20	NTT	Japan	Telecoms
21	Amazon.com	US	Retail
22	BP	UK	Energy/Chemicals
23	Pfizer	US	Healthcare
24	Nestlé	Switzerland	Food/Beverages
25	General Motors	US	Engineering

Sixteen corporations made the line-up of the most respected companies in five years' time without featuring on the current list. Seven of the 16 newcomers are in telecommunications - and include the former national telecoms giants of Japan, Spain, Germany, and the UK, as well as AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and WorldCom. Other new companies include the fast-growing Yahoo, entering the list at number 18, the French utilities company, Vivendi, and the UK's Glaxo Wellcome/Smithkline Beecham - no mean feat for a company that remains a virtual entity pending regulatory approval of its merger.

Among those companies entering the ranks of the most respected for the first time this year, a few are tipped to rise sharply in status in five years' time. One such company is America Online. It sneaked in at number 50 (most likely as a result of its merger with Time Warner). CEOs expected it to rank at number seven in five years' time. Merck and Sun Microsystems are two more companies expected to take strides up the ladder, while Procter & Gamble and General Motors are, according to this year's CEO respondents, earmarked for downward mobility.