This is the fourth year we have conducted this global survey of CEO opinion, and we have achieved a record number of respondents - 914 CEOs from 65 different countries. As in previous years, these respondents come not just from publicly-quoted organisations but also from state-owned enterprises, large subsidiaries and private companies.

The core of the survey remains consistent over time, identifying those companies and business leaders most respected by their peers and the reasons for those choices.

First, chief executives were asked to nominate which three companies in the world they most respected, and why. They were then asked to select three companies that they most respected in their industry sector in the world, and to state why. Next, each chief executive was asked to identify which three business leaders they most respected and why. Each of these questions was asked in the previous surveys.

For the first time this year, however, CEOs were also asked to name companies that best delivered on specific value areas. Three questions were asked. First, which three companies created the most value for their consumers? Second, which three companies created the most value for their shareholders? And third, which three companies best managed environmental resources? In each case respondents were asked to give reasons for their nominations.

For each of these three "value" questions, we also surveyed a relevant stakeholder group to provide a contrast to CEO opinion. The question on consumer value was posed to 6,000 members of the general public in a global omnibus survey; the question on shareholder value was asked of 100 fund managers world-wide; and 110 media commentators and non-governmental organisations (NGO) officers were asked the question on environmental resources.

The fieldwork was undertaken between June and October 2001, principally by telephone interview but in some cases by written questionnaire or face-to-face interviews.

As in previous years, we were faced with the choice of weighting the data by gross domestic product of the respondent's country (the only measure available across all respondents), or leaving it untouched. Once again, we decided to weight the data, both to ensure consistency with prior years' results, and to reflect that, rightly or wrongly, there are different levels of global impact achieved by views expressed in different economies.

This approach applies to the CEO, fund manager and media/NGO surveys, but in the case of the general public survey we felt it was more appropriate to weight the data by population size rather than GDP.

To ensure that we smooth out any single country bias, we have once again applied a minimum qualification level of five nominations to each table, apart from the World's Most Respected Companies by Industry Sector, where a minimum of three nominations was required.

Importantly, we have again analysed the unprompted reasons given behind nominations, providing a valuable insight into what factors drive respect for companies and business leaders. For the questions on company and business leader respect we have analysed the answers into the same categories as last year, enabling comparisons to be made over time. In the case of each of the "value" questions, we have analysed the CEO and other stakeholder group findings into the same categories, enabling the reasonings of the two different groups to be compared.

In summary, the methodology allows for an in-depth and credible look at global CEO and other relevant stakeholder group opinion, and for differences over time and/or between respondent groups to be measured.

Email Peter Barker at peter.barker@uk.pwcglobal.com