OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has been named to Fortune magazine’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies for the 17th time in 21 years.
UP is the highest-ranked railroad in the magazine’s Trucking, Transportation, and Logistics category.
The annual list is compiled through a survey conducted by global consulting firm Korn Ferry. Executives, directors, and analysts are asked to rate companies in their own industries, judging them on nine criteria.
The criteria include innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment value, quality of products/services, and global competitiveness.
“This honor underscores Union Pacific’s commitment to safety, efficiency and innovation in our operations,” CEO Lance Fritz said in a statement. “It’s a testament to our dedicated, hardworking employees who position Union Pacific for success as we keep America moving.”
UP’s highest score came in the social responsibility category.
Fortune’s annual list will be published in the magazine’s February/March issue, which will be available on Feb. 21.
There is a false god they worship called low OR and they use two false prophets called PSR and stock buybacks to get there. In the mean time, a crowd of hedge funds who attend their church sing loudly from the pews with their hymnal full of options and the song of massive capital appreciation.
Everyone is waiting for the exorcist (Marty Oberman) to remove the demons within UP and kick out the self serving unfaithful.
upvote
Another upvote.
and by the way…..
Rail service was in the dumps…. but
“UP’s highest score came in the social responsibility category.”
Yep, WOKE there way right to the top!!!!!!!!
Well what have I been saying, Union Pacific is a Wall Street investment. Makes money for short term investment types, who could care less about being a service oriented industry. And Fortune Mag Rag is the Bible for short term, make money, have no interest in the core business….rape the company and get out……has happened so may times in railroad history….
Coming soon to a media outlet near you…a slobbering puff piece on how great UP is. What a joke, Fortune. I bet the survey didn’t ask the many customers without service because of embargoes in many parts of the system, Foster Farms struggles with UP, the pompous attitude corporate UP has with the STB, the countless citizens waiting at grade crossings all over UP territory waiting for a UP three-mile-long convoy to pass at UP’s “enhanced” track speed of 30mph, the train crews hog-lawed in the middle of nowhere for hours awaiting a new crew, and the many UP employees who despise working for the albatross known as UP. All this gets UP a “most admired” status by Fortune ragazine. The survey needs to look elsewhere besides the Wall Street money hustlers to see the real UP. Fortune, admit your glowing view of UP is a monstrous mistake and start over with your “survey”.
Apology. My actual thought is that UP will sink so low that it will become a PC . Then the ultimate take over to become a clone of CR becoming the first class 1 takeover in the 21st century.
That’s why I don’t read Fortune magazine. UP is one of the worst run railroads I have ever seen. Every railroad could have learned a lot of lessons from Conrail. As a former Conrail employee I can say it was the most efficient railroad I ever seen.
I know a bunch of chickens that would beg to disagree…
And plus I think it ranks very high on the STB’s Most Admonished Railroad list.
Conrail did NOT go bankrupt; Penn Central before it did. Conrail was arguably the best-run railroad in the country from the time Stan Crane came in as CEO until the CSX-NS bust-up.
Totally agree Al. Conrail was always my favorite Railroad. It was very well run and had good CEO’s, I even named my late dog Conrail.
The only survey that should matter for whether a railroad (or any company for that matter) is doing their job is one taken by the customers or the clients (read; shippers, people who pay and expect a service for their payment.) Asking a bunch of financial and social questions says nothing about the railroad or other transportation company and how they accomplish their work. But then its about the money and how low (Operating Ratio) you can go to those automatons on wall street. A great franchise being ruined by technocrats and money changers…
Sic Transit Gloria. Consider the very short time between the disdain of UP expressed in these posts and the universal good feeling generated when 4014 returned to the rails.
You can still appreciate the 4014 and the goodwill it brings and still criticize the UP for poor customer and employee behavior. This isn’t the NFL where its like an offsetting penalty or something.
Really? Yes, it is a bit early for “April Fools’ Day” jokes as it’s only February.
Obviously employee satisfaction/employee well-being was not one of the metrics that the Korn-Ferry ‘consultants’ applied in this analysis. Truly sad …..
Nor was Customer satisfaction a key indicator either. Korn Ferry’s survey seemed more interested in turning a buck than being a successful enterprise to all parties and stake holders… What a joke…
Thinking UP will become thiis centuary’s first Conrail type bankruptcy and takeover ?
My eyes rolled so hard, I think I hurt myself.
I wonder if Foster Farms were consulted.
Was this list and contest conducted by the capos and bosses of Wall Street? A railroad that has a very negative image amonst the public and industry. Poor service, a railroad that shuts down because of a few snowstorms, has laid off hundreds of their workers and of course embraces PSR like their Wall Street stooge brother railroads. This a joke and of course Fortune Magazine like Wall Street is run by so called”financial experts” who know nothing about the railroad industry or how it runs or the business and customers they serve. Fortune loves the Union Pacific only because it is a stooge and does the bidding of their masters on Wall Street like so many businesses and companies today under the tyranny and and dictatorship of Wall Street. Freedom to do and run a business the way one should is no longer allowed You must bow to the wishes and demands of Wall Street and their greedy investors and stockholders
Joseph C. Markfelder
Fortune’s ratings are a mostly useless popularity contest. In the past a way to make money in the stock market has been to short the winners and buy the losers. This is not the only example of poor rankings. About 23 years ago Fortune labelled Enron as ‘America’s most innovative company.’ At the beginning of 2001 they listed ‘Ten Companies for the Next Ten Years;’ half were bankrupt within five years.
“UP’s highest score came in the social responsibility category.”
This is an ESG reward as Fortune shifted the weights toward some woke concepts.
“Executives, directors, and analysts are asked to rate companies in their own industries,”
UP had better stock buyback performance than the others, so of course they “look better” to outside eyes.
So the fact that one of the advantages of rail freight is its fuel efficiency and thus great potential cost savings and environmental advantages makes it woke!!!!
Like to know who replied to the survey. They surely didn’t ask any of it’s employees or customer base. This is what it’s employees and customers really think of UP:
(1) If they keep Innovating in the future like they do now, UP won’t be around much longer. (2) They manage people so well that they let them go (Fire) and now not many people want to work for them. (3) At the rate that UP is going they won’t have any assets left. (4) They doing great here because they aren’t running as many trains as they use to, making the air cleaner. (5) The managers SUCK. (6) Following the same path as the old Penn Central, paying high dividends till they go into bankruptcy. (7) Get your money NOW because it won’t be there in a few years. (8) Quality of Service, What quality on it’s lousy service. (9) How can they compete Globally when they can’t compete with itself much less other domestic carriers.
Seriously? This is a perfect example of how far removed the executives, directors and analysts are from customers and front line employees.
Are we supposed to vomit or what?
This is a joke, right?