Forbes names 'most innovative'

New York-Three optical companies have been named among “The World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Forbes magazine. Alcon ranked 21st, Essilor International 25th, and Corning 69th on the list, which was published in the Aug. 8 issue of the business magazine.

The magazine’s list is based on the companies’ “innovation premium,” a calculation arrived at by professors at the Harvard Business School, Boston; Brigham Young University, Provo, UT; and the international graduate business school INSEAD, New York (U.S. headquarters). The innovation premium is defined as the proportion of a company’s market value that cannot be accounted for from cash flows of its current products in its current markets. In other words, according to the authors, it is the premium the stock market gives a company because investors expect it to launch new offerings and enter new markets that will generate even bigger income streams.

“Many such lists ask executives to vote on which companies they think are most innovative-popularity contests based on past performance. Our method relies on investors-voting with their wallets-to identify the companies they expect to be innovative today and in the future,” the authors write.

According to the Forbes list, Alcon had 5-year average sales growth of 10.4%, 5-year average net income growth of 17.9%, and an innovation premium of 34.9. (By way of reference, the highest-ranked company on the Forbes list, Salesforce.com, had an innovation premium of 75.1; the second-ranked company, Amazon.com, had an innovation premium of 58.9.)

Essilor had 5-year average sales growth of 9.9%, 5-year average net income growth of 10%, and an innovation premium of 33.2.

Corning had 5-year average sales growth of 5.9%, 5-year average net income growth of 33.7%, and an innovation premium of 21.4.